Advanceshipping: Advanced
by HeroxPartnerfan96
Summary: Ash arrives at Hoenn where he meets May, a young girl ready to get her first Pokemon. Together, the two travel through Hoenn experincing new adventures and meeting new friends. Advanceshipping, rated for safety
1. Get the Show on the Road!

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**(For those of you who are wondering what this is about, I'll be doing a novelization of the Hoenn Saga and beyond with none other than May. This series of sagas will include Advanceshipping as well as other pairings. Now in the words of this episode, let's get this show on the road!)**

**Summary: **Ash arrives at Hoenn where he meets May, a young girl aspiring to be a Pokemon Trainer. Together, the two travel through Hoenn along with May's little brother Max and Ash's friend, Brock. Advanceshipping

**Age Profiles: **Ash: 14, May: 13, Max: 10 and Brock: 20

**Chapter 1: Get the Show on the Road!**

Somewhere out on the road, a sound of a bike wheel could be heard streaking down on the road. Just then, a young girl of 13 years old could be seen riding her bike as she leaped up into the air briefly and continued her way down the path. She was wearing her familiar red outfit with her backpack down on her waist and her brown hair tied in her red bandana.

'Hi. My name's May. I'm on my way to meet my dad's friend, Professor Birch and get my beginner's Pokemon, and then I can begin my journey as a Pokemon Trainer. I heard the initial age to get a Pokemon was 10 years old, but they changed it so that beginning Trainers had more time to get ready. But between you and me, what I'm more interested in is travelling and seeing more places.' May thought. She started to pick up the pace on the road, since she knew she was getting closer. 'There it is. Littleroot Town up ahead!' May thought, excited.

But then, she looked to notice a Duskull floating beside her. Alarmed, May lost control of her bike for a few seconds and ran right into a tree.

"I guess I should have worn a helmet." May said, her head hurting from that hit. She slowly slid to the ground, while the Duskull chuckled at its prank and floated away. As May continued her way down the road on her bike, she said "The truth is, I don't like Pokemon." She soon came up to the top of the hill and stopped for a moment to look the sight. "Wow!" she smiled, amazed. There was also a ferry heading across the ocean, which she didn't seem to notice.

"But the travelling, I just love it!" May added, smiling brightly. Meanwhile on the ferry, Ash, now 14 years old, was holding his partner and friend, Pikachu wrapped up in a blanket. Pikachu had not been feeling very well since they got on the ferry, and Ash was starting to get worried.

"Just try to rest, Pikachu. As soon as we dock, I'm taking you right to the Pokemon Centre." Ash said. He didn't like to see his friend in a state like this, and it was making him worried. Pikachu wasn't able to respond, as his cheeks crackled with electricity. As the ferry made its way to Hoenn, Jessie, James and Meowth had snuck on board as well and could hear the announcement from where they were standing on the balcony.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Littleroot Town. Prepare for arrival." The announcer said. The three members of Team Rocket heard this announcement, since they had snuck on to find Pikachu.

"Littleroot Town?" James asked. "The city whose colours will never change." Jessie commented.

James and Meowth looked up at Jessie, surprised that she even knew anything about the city at all. "That's right. Littleroot Town has remained true to its roots. I guess my colours have slowly been changing over the years." Jessie explained, smiling. Meowth then climbed up onto the top of the railings to hear this clearer.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Jessie, have you been here before?" James asked, wondering if there was something he didn't know about his female work partner and close friend. Jessie smiled and happily agreed with James's assumption.

"Is this really all that there is?" Jessie asked. James and Meowth stared at her in disbelief; they seriously couldn't believe what they were hearing Jessie say. As they listened to Jessie continue, James looked down at Meowth.

"Is she speaking hypothetically?" he asked. "If that means wacky, then yes." Meowth responded. Jessie's Wobbuffet suddenly popped out of its Pokeball and said "Wobbuffet!" Jessie immediately returned Wobbuffet to its Pokeball and started to smile again. She happily sighed, while James and Meowth sighed with sadness. Meanwhile, the ship had docked and Ash was looking for the Pokemon Centre.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me where the Pokemon Centre is?" Ash asked, holding Pikachu in his arms. The man he was talking to looked down at the teen and smiled. "I'm afraid this town doesn't have a Pokemon Centre." The man responded. Ash's worry quickly rose at this; if he didn't find help soon, Pikachu would be in serious trouble.

"Pikachu..." Ash said, sadly. But he wasn't going to give up just yet; he was going to find help for his friend. So, he called up Professor Birch once he found a phone nearby.

"Hello? Is this Professor Birch's Laboratory? I'm Ash from Pallet Town. It's an emergency!" Ash explained. Meanwhile in the Laboratory, an assistant could hear what the emergency was from Ash.

"What? Your Pikachu's ill? That's terrible. Unfortunately, Professor Birch is out on the field right now conducting an experiment. Stay put, Ash. I'll try and get in touch with him." The assistant said.

"Great. Thanks a lot." Ash responded. With this, the assistant hung up. As Ash put the phone back, his worry for his friend only seemed to get worse. He went over and sat down on a bench nearby, and looked down at Pikachu.

"It's okay, Pikachu. Everything's going to be just fine now." Ash explained. He looked up at the port and decided it best to wait for the time being. However, that didn't seem to help matters much for him, since he was finding himself unable to not worry about Pikachu, whose cheeks continued to crackle with electricity.

"Pikachu..." Ash said, sadly, realising that his friend still wasn't feeling well. But then, he looked up in surprise to see a car coming and it stopped short nearby. Inside was none other than Professor Birch.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" Professor Birch asked. Ash stood up holding Pikachu and came over. "Yes. Are you Professor Birch?" he asked. Professor Birch came over and looked at Pikachu to see what the problem was. With this, the two got into the car and started to make their way to Professor Birch's lab. On the way, Pikachu's cheeks started crackling with more electricity, much to Ash's alarm.

"It's some kind of electrical discharge." Professor Birch said. Ash started to get worried; that didn't sound like it was very good at all. "What do you mean?" he asked, looking over at Professor Birch.

"Pikachu is unable to release its electricity regularly, so it randomly sparks like that. It's a common problem that occurs among most electric types." Professor Birch explained. He then asked "Has Pikachu been exposed to any magnetic fields?" Ash suddenly remembered one experience when Pikachu become stuck on a magnet and was exposed to high amounts of electricity.

"Yeah, that's it. Pikachu was trapped to a magnet." Ash responded. He and Professor Birch looked down to see Pikachu trying to get out of Ash's grip; it was probably because of Pikachu's high amount of unreleased electricity. "What is it, Pikachu? What's the matter?" Ash asked in concern.

"The high fever is confusing Pikachu." Professor Birch said. Just then, Pikachu's cheeks started to crackle with more powerful sparks of electricity, much to Ash's alarm. "We have to get Pikachu to the lab immediately. Better hold on tight, Ash!" Professor Birch warned. With this, he drove off the road and headed to head into the forest as a detour. As they drove through the forest, they flew off a cliff and started to drive quickly down the path. Ash looked down at Pikachu in worry, knowing that his friend's condition was getting worse.

"Pikachu, it won't be long now." Ash said, but it was clear that his worry was getting worse as well as his friend's condition. They didn't take long to arrive at the lab entrance, where the assistant was waiting for them.

"This way, professor. Everything is in place and ready for you." The assistant said, noticing Professor Birch and Ash. The three came inside and Ash placed Pikachu down on a steel table while two small magnet like stables attached onto Pikachu's cheeks. "What's that?" Ash asked.

"It's a device that will rid Pikachu of all its extra electricity." Professor Birch explained. Ash nodded in understanding, knowing what the best choice for Pikachu was. As the device was turned on, Ash decided to watch his friend and see if things were going to bet better. Unfortunately, Pikachu's electricity levels were extremely high and the device was destroyed as a result. There was an explosion bursting through the wall and Pikachu started to escape.

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped, and started to run after his friend. Realising that things were going to get dangerous, Professor Birch grabbed the three starter Pokemon and started to head off after Ash. During that time, Jessie, James and Meowth poked their heads out from a bush.

"Wonder what's with Pikachu?" Meowth said. Jessie sighed in annoyance at this; she knew what this would mean. "And what's with you?" Meowth asked, as he and James looked over at her.

"It's what we do, Jess: chase." James said. Meanwhile, Ash was trying to catch up with Pikachu when he turned to notice Professor Birch running after him and turned around.

"Pikachu's internal electrical levels are too high. An interaction with any kind of magnetic field could result in an explosion!" Professor Birch explained. Ash felt terrified hearing this; he didn't want to see anything like that happen to his friend. The two split up to find Pikachu. Meanwhile, May had arrived at the Lab looking for Professor Birch.

"You must be May." The assistant said. "Yes. I'm looking for Professor Birch." May agreed, smiling.

"He had an emergency in the mountains, but asked for you to wait here." The assistant explained. "Then I'll go look for him." May said, and started to ride off on her bike to find Professor Birch. As the assistance called for her to wait, May looked back over her shoulder and smiled "I've never been good at waiting. Bye!"

Meanwhile, Ash was running through the fields to try and find Pikachu. As he stopped short for a few moments and then continued running, he started to get worried; if he didn't hurry and find Pikachu, his friend would get into big trouble soon. Somewhere in another part of the fields, Professor Birch was looking for Pikachu as well. But as he took one step forward, he slipped, and slid down the side of the cliff, falling off and landing right in front of a Poochyena. As he sat up, he looked to notice a whole pack of Poochyena coming towards him, and they didn't look happy. Professor Birch started to run away as the pack was chasing him. Up on the top of the hill, May stopped short on her bike to see Professor Birch climbing up on a tree branch.

"Professor Birch?" she asked. Professor Birch looked to see May and smiled.

"Terrific! You must be May. Great timing. Please, open that bag over there!" Professor Birch called. May noticed the bag in front of her, so she ran over and opened it. To her surprise, she noticed three Pokeballs lying in it. She decided to grab one of the three Pokeballs and held it up.

"Don't worry, Professor. I'll be there to help you soon!" May said. She threw the Pokeball up into the air and as it opened, a flash of white light came out to show a Mudkip there.

"All right, a Mudkip!" Professor Birch smiled. "Okay, that's good. What do I need to do now?" May asked.

"You need to tell it to use a move, like one of its signature moves, Water Gun." Professor Birch explained. May nodded and looked down at Mudkip.

"Mudkip, use Water Gun!" May said. Mudkip looked up at May, and blasted a jet of water from its mouth at her face. After Mudkip was done, May was completely soaked. "Is that supposed to happen?" she asked. Professor Birch sighed, realising this wasn't getting anywhere. Just then, the tree branch snapped and he was sent back down to the ground, where the Poochyena were waiting for him. May and Mudkip looked down to see Professor Birch being chased by the pack of Poochyena. Mudkip ran down the hill and jumped off to help Professor Birch. The Poochyena started to get worried knowing what was coming, as Mudkip fired a jet of water from its mouth at them, sending them running while May watched on from the top of the hill, surprised.

After the Poochyena were gone, Professor Birch withdrew Mudkip into its Pokeball and then looked up at May. "Thanks for all your help, May." Professor Birch said. May just smiled; she wasn't sure exactly how she helped, but she was just happy to be there.

"Oh, it was nothing." May responded. "You've really grown up a lot since I last saw you, May." Professor Birch commented. But then, May remembered something that she wanted to ask Professor Birch before.

"Professor, what's going on? I heard that you had an emergency. What was that about?" May asked. Professor Birch suddenly remembered that from what May said.

"I'll explain everything on our way. For now, we have to hurry!" Professor Birch responded. Meanwhile, Pikachu was starting to get weak, but his electricity levels were still high, since electricity was still crackling from his cheeks. Ash had caught up with Pikachu, but since Pikachu couldn't see Ash very well, Pikachu assumed that Ash was an adversary and started to send out a large blast of electricity reaching up to the sky. Nearby, May and Professor Birch could see this.

"What was that?" May asked. "That's what I was telling you about, May. Pikachu's electricity build-up has reached full max. We need to hurry." Professor Birch explained, and started to run off ahead while May was trying to catch up with him. During that time, Ash slowly got up from that large electrical shock, looking at Pikachu the entire time, and started to slowly walk over to Pikachu. But then, Pikachu started releasing large bolts of electricity, stopping Ash from approaching any further. Ash then turned around to see that Professor Birch and May had arrived.

"Pikachu could explode at any moment, Ash!" Professor Birch warned. "But I have to help!" Ash retorted. Just then, Pikachu got up and started to run off again. Since Pikachu couldn't see where he was going, he ran off the edge of a cliff. Alarmed, Ash immediately ran over and jumped down after him. Professor Birch and May both watched on in alarm, as they saw this. Luckily, Ash grabbed hold of a tree branch that was in the side of the mountain wall, with Pikachu in his grasp.

"I'm going to help you, Pikachu. Don't worry!" Ash said. But then, large bolts of electricity started to be released from Pikachu's cheeks, which nearly hit Ash as well. Meanwhile, May looked down from the cliff to see Ash there.

"Are you all right?" May asked. "Yeah, I think so!" Ash responded, looking up to see her.

"Don't let go! The professor and I will help you up!" May called. Ash nodded at this, and looked down at Pikachu not wanting to let him go either. Just then, he looked to notice a rope was thrown down at him, and looked up to see Professor Birch and May looking down at him from the cliff.

"Ash, grab the rope!" Professor Birch called. Ash grabbed hold of the rope and started to slowly make his way up the cliff, while May and Professor Birch pulled him up as well. However, Ash could tell that Pikachu was still in trouble, since he continued to release electricity from his cheeks. As Pikachu started to calm down and recognize Ash, Ash continued his way up the cliff. When he finally made it up to the top, he sat down with Pikachu still in his grip. May then bent down to check on him.

"Are you all right?" she asked. Ash looked up at her, smiled and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Thanks for helping." Ash responded. May smiled, hearing this response.

"You're welcome." May responded. Ash stood up to look at her in the eyes. "My name's Ash." Ash said. "I'm May." May responded. The two started to smile at each other, when suddenly they heard the sound of a giant footstep in the ground. Surprised, the two along with Professor Birch turned around to see this.

"What was that?" May asked. It was a giant robot in the shape of a battery, with its two arms being shaped like batteries as well, and Jessie and James stood up on the top of the robot.

"That's Team Rocket, and they're always trying to capture Pikachu!" Ash said, recognizing the three in an instant. "Who are they?" May asked, having never heard of them before. It sounded like Professor Birch hadn't heard of them before either. "Trust me, they're always up to no good." Ash said. Jessie, James and Meowth dropped into their seats inside the robot. Meowth started to smile, having come up with a great idea.

"I've been doing my homework, and I've come up a machine that will beat that pesky Pikachu at its own game. No matter how high its volts go, this machine will absorb them!" Meowth explained. Pikachu started to try and get out of Ash's grip to deal with the three.

"Don't do anything, Pikachu!" Ash said, to try and get his friend to stop. "So, that's how you want to play? Fine with us!" Meowth said. With this, the giant machine let out a pincer from the middle of its head, and grabbed Pikachu out of Ash's grip. Then, the two sockets on the robot's arms attached onto Pikachu's cheeks, and the machine started to absorb Pikachu's electricity, and the battery like form on the robot started to go up with electricity.

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped. May quickly held him back, realising what he was going to do. "Ash, no! It'll be too dangerous." May said. Ash looked at May for a few moments, and decided not to argue with her. Just then Pikachu started to feel a lot better; all of his excess electricity had been absorbed by the machine. Smiling, he then started to electrify the machine while Ash, May and Professor Birch watched on.

During that time, May's bike was suddenly electrocuted to which she was alarmed. "My bike's barbequed!" May gasped. Jessie, James and Meowth were having a worse time, since they were being electrocuted.

"We haven't been wasting our time after all!" Jessie smiled, while James and Meowth weren't so happy. "But have we captured..." James said. "Too much of a good thing?" Meowth finished. Wobbuffet then popped out of its Pokeball to put in its opinion. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said.

"Do you smell something burning?" Jessie asked. It didn't take all three long to catch on, since they all gasped in unison "I think it's us!" Just then, the machine exploded sending all three flying through the air and vanishing into the sky.

As the smoke cleared from the explosion, Ash and May opened their eyes to find that they had been holding onto each other during that. When they noticed, they immediately let go and started to step away from one another. But as they looked back at each other, they started to smile. But then, they looked to notice Pikachu suddenly collapse after that event. "Pikachu!" Ash gasped, running over to check on his friend. Back at the Lab, Professor Birch worked out from his assistant that the machine must have absorbed all of Pikachu's excess electricity, since Pikachu's electricity levels were at normal.

Ash smiled; that meant Pikachu was going to get better. As May poked her head in to see what was going on, she accidently knocked over the flower pot, but caught it before it hit the ground. Ash then turned around to see May holding up the flower pot above her head, and she happily smiled.

"Hi, Ash. I thought I'd come in to see how Pikachu was feeling." May said, as she put the flower pot back on the table beside her. "He's finally feeling better." Ash responded, smiling.

"Pikachu should be feeling good as new by tomorrow morning." Professor Birch said. Ash and May both smiled at this; that was good news to them. Professor Birch then looked over at May. "So, May, are you ready to choose your first Pokemon?" he asked. Ash started to smile at this.

Ash and May followed Professor Birch so he could show them the three starters. The first one to come out was Treecko. As Treecko smiled at May, she immediately backed away in worry. "It's creepy!" she gasped.

"No it's not, May. I think it looks like a cool Pokemon." Ash said. The next one to come out was Mudkip. Ash started to smile seeing it, but May didn't fare too well.

"That Mudkip wouldn't do a single thing I asked it to do." May said. "Really? How could that little guy cause trouble?" Ash asked, smiling. The last starter to come out was Torchic. As May looked down at Torchic, Torchic ran over to her and started nuzzling against her leg.

"Look at that, May. Torchic already likes you, and it's only met you!" Ash commented. May noticed this as well and she started to smile. With this, she picked up Torchic.

"I'm choosing Torchic!" May said. As May was shown her Pokedex and Pokeballs, she didn't want to bring up that she didn't actually like Pokemon. The next morning, May was looking at the scorched remains of her bike from it having been electrocuted.

"This is Pikachu's fault. I think I should go have a word with Ash." May said to herself, and went towards the room Ash was in. But as she opened the door, she was surprised to see that Ash had been sleeping with Pikachu the entire night. "Ash has been taking care of Pikachu the entire night." May said to herself. She closed the door a little as she watched this; she didn't want to wake Ash up. Pikachu woke up and, smiling, started to nuzzle against Ash. Ash woke up and started to smile when he saw Pikachu looking at him.

"I'm so happy you're better, Pikachu." Ash smiled, as he hugged his friend. May smiled as she watched this on as well, and she closed the door as to not interrupt Ash. Outside, she let out her Torchic from the Pokeball.

"Good morning, Torchic." May smiled, gently stroking Torchic's chin. She then looked up to see Ash coming out of the Lab with Pikachu on his shoulder, and came over to see him. "Good morning, Ash. Are you feeling all right?" May asked. Ash turned to notice May and smiled.

"Yeah, I am. Morning to you too, May." Ash responded. "That's great." May said, as she went to see Pikachu. Just then, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, much to the two's surprise and went over to meet Torchic. The two smiled, and Pikachu started to chase after Torchic in a game of tag while Ash and May watched on.

"It looks like they're getting along already." Ash commented. May smiled, but then she looked back to the wreckage of her bike. But then she smiled again, deciding not to let it bother her. Sometime later, Professor Birch came out to see the two.

"You will have to register for the Hoenn League at the nearest Pokemon Centre you find, okay?" Professor Birch asked. "And the nearest town I can think of where you can find one is Oldale Town." The assistant added. Ash happily agreed at this, but then May started to say something.

"Walking all that way alone makes me nervous, and my bike's destroyed, thanks to Pikachu, Ash." May said, looking over at Ash. Ash looked at May in surprise, wondering what she was saying. "There must be a solution, a way to get to Oldale Town safely on foot." May continued. Ash stared at her in surprise, wondering where she was going with this. But then May smiled, having an idea. "Why don't we go there together? I happen to know the way there." May said, looking over at Ash. Ash was a bit nervous, and unsure of what to say about this. "Ash, I don't mind at all. It's no trouble, really. Shall we?" May asked. Pikachu started to smile at this idea as well. Then, Ash started to smile as well.

"Okay. We'll go together." Ash responded. May smiled at this, delighted that her idea worked. Ash was confused, wondering what May was so happy about.

"That's a great idea. You can look after one another." Professor Birch agreed. "Yes. Be careful." The assistant added.

"Don't worry, we will. Thanks a lot." Ash responded. "See you soon." May added. With this, the two started to make their way down to Oldale Town. It was the start of a new adventure, and through a new region as well.


	2. A Ruin with a View

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**Chapter 2: A Ruin with a View**

As Ash and May walked down the road to get to Oldale Town, May was lagging behind because she was feeling exhausted from walking for such a while. Ash looked over at Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder. "Pikachu, since Oldale Town is so close, you want to race the rest of the way there?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu responded, happily agreeing. "Hey, hold up a minute!" May called from behind. Ash turned around to see that she was exhausted from walking.

"What's wrong, May? Are you feeling a bit tired?" Ash asked. May immediately held her arms up into the air, wondering if Ash noticed that she was far behind him. "Yes, and if I knew that you would run the whole way, I wouldn't have offered my help!" May responded.

"What are you talking about? I just want to get there before it gets too dark." Ash said. May looked at him in annoyance, and then turned her head away slightly. "You know, I did have a bike." May commented. Ash looked at her in surprise, and decided to make the right decision for once.

"You know, I guess there's no harm if we slow down just a little bit." Ash said. May smiled at this and said "That's right!" As the two continued their way down the road, with Ash letting May stay level with him, May looked at Ash to ask him a question.

"Ash?" she asked. "Yeah?" Ash asked, looking back at May. "I always thought that Pokemon were supposed to stay inside their Pokeballs, right?" May asked.

"Yeah, but Pikachu likes it better hanging outside with me, right buddy?" Ash asked. Pikachu happily agreed; he enjoyed it. May was surprised, and then she looked down at her Pokeball that had Torchic in it.

"I haven't gotten any complaints from Torchic yet." May commented. "Come to think of it, I barely know anything about Torchic." she added. Ash figured that May wasn't very familiar with Pokemon just yet; after all, she had just started her journey.

"Then maybe you should look Torchic up in that new Pokedex you got." Ash said. May smiled at this, and she got her Pokedex out and opened it up. As she looked at it, she was fascinated.

"It says that Torchic is a fire-type, and its attacks are..." As May was about to continue, Ash looked to notice something ahead and smiled. "Look at that!" he said. May looked up with him to see that there was a small blue baby mouse like Pokemon with a tail behind him. May looked it up in her Pokedex to see what it was.

"Azurill, the Water Ball Pokemon. Azurill is able to throw its tail like a lasso, using the momentum to move about." The Pokedex explained. Azurill looked up in surprise with its big eyes to see Ash and May standing there in front of it.

"It's so cute! I want it." May smiled. "Well then, try and catch it." Ash said. With this, May grabbed out an empty Pokeball and threw it at the Azurill. However, Ash was alarmed since he knew that wasn't exactly the way to do it. But, the Pokeball landed on Azurill's head and opened, capturing Azurill inside it. The Pokeball then started to shake with the centre glowing red.

"All right, I caught my first Pokemon!" May smiled. However, the Pokeball suddenly opened and Azurill was released. "What happened?" May asked in surprise.

"I was about to remind you, May, you need to battle the Pokemon and weaken it first before you try to catch it." Ash explained. May immediately smiled at this advice.

"Right. Thanks, Ash." May said. With this, she grabbed the Pokeball that contained Torchic. "It's time for my first Pokemon battle! Let's go, Torchic!" May said, as she threw the Pokeball. The Pokeball opened and Torchic was released. As May started to try and remember what she needed to do, Azurill started to bounce away and Torchic chased after it. As the two Pokemon came to a tree, Azurill bounced out of the way while Torchic ran right into the tree.

"Are you okay, Torchic?" May asked. Torchic got up and looked over at Azurill, who continued to bounce away. Torchic then started to run after it, while May was just watching on.

"Torchic, wait for me!" May called, as she started to run after the two Pokemon. Torchic and Azurill continued to run through the bushes, with Torchic attempting to chase Azurill down. As they came to a small cliff face, Azurill bounced out of the way while Torchic ran right into the cliff wall. As Torchic was dazed, May picked her up since she and Ash had both caught up.

"Next time, Torchic, try not to do anything until I tell you to." May advised. Torchic however looked up at May with eyes of sadness, to which May started to get concerned. "Torchic, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" May asked.

"May, if you don't hurry, Azurill will get away!" Ash said. May looked to see Azurill there in front of a tree, and Torchic jumped out of her arms, ready to battle.

"All right. Torchic, use Peck!" May said; she had gotten the chance to see what Torchic's moves were before she and Ash saw Azurill. With this, Torchic lunged towards Azurill ready to peck it. Azurill immediately jumped out of the way, leaving Torchic to peck the tree rapidly.

"Over there, Torchic!" May said. Torchic turned around to notice Azurill bouncing away and started to run after it. With this, Ash and May started to run after the two Pokemon as well. As the two Pokemon headed through a bush, Torchic stopped short and started to shoot small blasts of fire from her beak. Torchic could hear the cries of a Pokemon being hurt and, assuming that it was the Azurill, smiled. However, Torchic noticed that her attack had actually hurt not only the Azurill, but also an Azumarill and a Marill. Torchic started to get worried, while Ash and May had finally caught up to see this. The three Pokemon shot strong jets of water from their mouths, all of with hit Torchic and knocked her out.

"Torchic!" May gasped. Azumarill, Marill and Azurill started to charge to attack the two, but Pikachu quickly took action stopping them in their tracks with a strong bolt of lightning. Alarmed, the three Pokemon jumped back into the lake. After that was over, May was holding her unconscious Torchic. "Torchic, are you all right?" she asked, worried.

"You see, May, fire types like Torchic are weak against water attacks." Ash explained. "Ash, I feel terrible about this. What should I do about this?" May asked, looking over at him in worry.

"Don't worry, May. Once we get to the Pokemon Centre, you'll be able to get Torchic's energy restored there." Ash said. "Well then, let's hurry!" May responded. The two started to run down the road, while May held the Pokeball that contained Torchic in it. As they were on their way, Ash noticed a very surprising sight; there was a circle of long rocks, surrounding an unusual area.

"May, look at that! What do you think that is?" Ash asked. May looked up with him to see the area, and the two decided to go and see what it was.

"It looks like it might be some old buildings, Ash." May commented. A man wearing a research outfit came over to them, and Ash and May looked up to see him.

"Actually, these are the ruins of Oldale Town. I'm Professor Alden, and I'm here investigating them." The man explained. Ash and May both smiled, happy to meet them.

"Hi. My name's Ash." Ash said. "And I'm May. Hello." May added.

"It's nice to meet you two. Where are you going in such a hurry?" Professor Alden asked. "We're looking for the Pokemon Centre." Ash responded.

"Well, you're almost there. It's just over this hill." Professor Alden said, turning to see the Pokemon Centre down on the bottom of the hill ahead. Ash and May both smiled, seeing this.

"That's great. Thanks." Ash said. "Thank you." May added. With this, the two started to make their way to the Pokemon Centre. That evening, Ash and May had both arrived at the Pokemon Centre.

"Nurse Joy, could you please help my Torchic?" May asked. "No problem." Nurse Joy responded. She took the Pokeball that had Torchic inside and started to scan it to see what was wrong. During that time, May looked down sadly which Ash noticed right away.

"What's wrong, May?" he asked. May looked up at Ash to see that he was concerned. "I don't understand why I let Torchic get hurt like this. I was just trying to catch my first Pokemon, but it didn't go well." May explained. Ash smiled and gently placed his hand on May's shoulder, to which she looked up at him.

"Don't worry, May. It's not easy starting out as a Trainer. Believe me; I learned that the hard way." Ash said, as he remembered what happened the first day he started his adventure. But he continued "But I'm sure things will get better for you." May started to smile at Ash's support. "Thanks, Ash." she responded. Ash beamed at this, before Nurse Joy turned to the two.

"Torchic will be all right. A goodnight's sleep will be all it needs." Nurse Joy said. Ash and May both smiled at this; they were happy to hear that Torchic would be all right. "That's great. Thank you." May smiled.

"You feeling better now, May?" Ash asked. May happily nodded. "I think a goodnight's sleep would do you some good as well." Nurse Joy commented. Ash and May couldn't agree more; they did have quite a day today. Sometime later, May came over to Ash.

"Ash?" she asked. "Yeah, May? What is it?" Ash asked, turning around to see her behind him.

"I've been thinking. Since I'm now in a Pokemon Centre, will you show me around?" May asked. "Yeah, of course. But I just need to make a call to someone before I do." Ash responded, smiling. The two both came to a phone booth, so Ash could call up Professor Oak. May stood beside him to look at the screen.

"Hey, Professor Oak. I just now got into Oldale Town." Ash said. "Wonderful, Ash! It's always nice to hear from you." Professor Oak responded.

"I've just finished registering to be in the Hoenn League, so I'm ready to go and get my first Badge." Ash explained. "It sounds like another big adventure for you, Ash." Professor Oak said. May happily agreed, to which Professor Oak looked in surprise to see her. May offered to have the seat, so Ash stood back and let her sit down to greet Professor Oak.

"We haven't been introduced yet, but my name's May." May said. "Well, it's nice to meet you, May. I'm Professor Oak from Pallet Town." Professor Oak responded.

"I know about you, Professor. My brother never misses out on any of your radio lectures, and when he finds out that I was actually talking to you, he'll be so jealous!" May explained. Professor Oak was surprised, but he smiled nonetheless.

"Well, how nice." Professor Oak responded. "Well, I may only be a beginning Pokemon Trainer, but I promise I'll work hard!" May continued.

"Well, with Ash by your side, I'm sure that you will do very well." Professor Oak said. Ash and May both looked at each other with a smile. "I wish the both of you a safe and successful journey." Professor Oak said. "Thanks!" Ash and May responded in unison.

Meanwhile in a phone booth nearby, the three members of Team Rocket, Jessie, James and Meowth were calling up their boss, Giovanni to let him know where they were. "What? You're in the Hoenn Region?" Giovanni asked. Somehow, Jessie, James and Meowth had crowded in the phone booth, with Wobbuffet out of its Pokeball as well.

"That right. Still hot on the trail of that rare Pikachu so that one day, that Pikachu will be all yours." Jessie said. "And now that we've tracked them down, we're ever so close to the capture." James added.

"Cause when it comes to the honour of Team Rocket, there's nothing we wouldn't do for ya!" Meowth smiled. "Well, since you've taken the liberty of calling me on my private line, I'm assuming that you have some good news, yes?" Giovanni asked. The three Rocket members started to get nervous at the mention of that.

"Well, the thing is..." Jessie said. "Good detective work doesn't come cheaply, so our cash reserves are a bit low." James explained. "Could we...get an advance?" Meowth asked.

"No!" Giovanni responded. The three members were alarmed at this. "You'll receive no more funds!" Giovanni said. Jessie, James and Meowth were all upset by this, since they knew they wouldn't have much to do now. "However, I do have an opportunity for you." Giovanni continued.

"Opportunity?" Jessie, James and Meowth asked in unison, surprised. "Though Team Rocket operated internationally, we haven't been able to set up operations in the Hoenn Region. So if you three can successfully accomplish this, that's when we'll talk money." Giovanni explained, and hung up after that sentence. Meanwhile, Jessie, James and Meowth were in disbelief at what they just heard.

"We're going to start a branch office?" The three asked in unison. At this, Jessie started to smile. "He's practically saying we're next in line to take control of Team Rocket!" James realized.

"All those long, harsh years of struggling were worth it because..." Meowth said. The three finished it off in unison "We got a promotion!" Wobbuffet then popped out to give its opinion. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said.

At the Pokemon Centre, Ash was showing May around the building. "And this room's where the Trainers sleep." Ash said, as he opened the door to show May a room that had two bunk beds. "Not too shabby." May commented. The two then came out to a room where a group of Trainers were sitting at the seats.

"This is the lobby, where the Trainers can stay here and hang out to share information." Ash explained. "Really?" May asked in interest. Ash nodded in agreement.

"I heard there's a new gym Leader over at the Petalburg Gym." One of the trainers sitting nearby said. Ash and May looked in surprise to hear this for themselves.

"Are you sure?" A girl sitting beside the man what had said that asked. Ash started to run over to see what they were talking about. "Can you tell me who the new Gym Leader is?" Ash asked. Hearing this, May ran over and started to pull Ash back with a nervous smile. "May, what are you doing? I'm trying to find something out!" Ash explained. May however smiled, having an idea to get out of this.

"I haven't gotten a chance to eat yet since we got here. Why don't we go have something?" May asked. Ash was confused, but he had to agree with May. Sometime later, the two were both sitting at a table together having some dinner. May was enjoying herself, since she was smiling brightly.

"These Centres are great. Everything you could want in one place!" May smiled.

"Well, remember they're here for the Trainers to rest in between heavy training." Ash explained. Pikachu was sitting beside him, enjoying a bottle of ketchup.

"But, you're preparing for heavy training and I'm training as well, right, Ash?" May asked. "Well, yeah." Ash responded. Just then, Professor Alden came over to see them, to which the two looked up at him.

"The two weary travellers. Glad you made it safely." Professor Alden smiled. Ash and May were both surprised, seeing him here as well. Meanwhile outside the Pokemon Centre, the familiar Team Rocket trio were digging a deep hole, with Wobbuffet helping in its own way holding a bucket.

"Something smells really good." Meowth commented. "Snap out of it!" Jessie called. James and Meowth looked up at her to see that she was still digging. "Work on being a good thief, not a restaurant critic." Jessie said.

"As soon we set up a Team Rocket shop in the Hoenn Region, we're number one!" Meowth said. "But, just a minute. Since we're the only members of Team Rocket in the Hoenn Region, we already are number one, aren't we?" James asked, confused.

"If you two lazy good for nothings take that sort of attitude, Butch and Cassidy will just slide on in and take over!" Jessie explained. With this, the three got back to their digging, while they were singing in the process to motivate themselves. Inside the Pokemon Centre, Ash was looking at a picture of the ruins he and May saw that morning hanging on the wall. But, he just wanted to make sure

"Professor, are those the same ruins we saw when we were up on that hill?" Ash asked.

"Yes. And lucky for me, the Pokemon Centre has been generous enough to give the use of this room while I continue my research on those ruins. You know, there's a stone chamber within the ruins, and legend has it that it's some kind of bridge between out world and the ancient Pokemon world." Professor Alden explained.

"Wow!" May said, amazed. "But because of its strange construction, any attempts to enter the chamber have caused it to begin crumbling, so its contents remain unknown." Professor Alden continued.

"What do you mean by ancient Pokemon?" Ash asked, puzzled by this. "Well, Ash, I'm not talking about extinct fossil Pokemon like Kabuto and Aerodactyl, I'm talking about ancient Pokemon that have been living since ancient time without changing at all." Professor Alden explained. Ash was amazed hearing this; he had never heard of Pokemon of that sort. "Most of the details involving ancient Pokemon like where they lived and how they lived are still a complete mystery to the world. Guess it's all that mystery that makes it so fascinating!" Professor Alden explained. May started to smile with interest at this.

"There might be more to Pokemon than I thought." May commented. Ash looked back at the picture of the ruins, smiling just as brightly as May was. "I'd love to meet one." Ash commented.

"You might just get your chance, Ash." Professor Alden said. Ash looked over at him in surprise at this. "The correct way to enter the stone chamber is written right here on this tablet." Professor Alden explained, holding up a brown tablet with some old writing on it. Ash and May both became excited at this.

"Let's go, then!" May smiled, looking forward to this opportunity.

"Well, there are four keys needed to enter that haven't yet been found, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait just a bit longer." Professor Alden said. During that time, two members of another organisation, Team Magna, were watching this on from outside. With this, three other members started to head off.

"I sure hope we find those four keys soon." Ash said, since he and May were looking forward to going into the stone chamber. Just then, the lights suddenly went out. And then, they looked in surprise to five people wearing red outfits burst in through the door.

"What's going on?" Professor Alden asked. "Professor Alden, we would like you to accompany us on a little journey to the Oldale Ruins." One of the Team Magma members explained. As Professor Alden refused, Nurse Joy came in holding a flashlight.

"I'm sorry, Professor Alden When the power went out..." As Nurse Joy came in, she was surprised to see the members of Team Magma there. But then, another member from behind came over and grabbed Nurse Joy by the arm. "So, Professor Alden, would you like to change your mind?" The member confronting Professor Alden asked. Professor Alden was silent for a few moments before he responded.

"All right. I'll go with you, then." he said. Before the Team Magma members left, they threw Ash, May and Nurse Joy into a spare room and locked the door. "Hey! Let us out of here!" Ash said, knocking on the door.

"What do they want?" May asked as she stood up. "To get inside the chamber, I'll bet." Nurse Joy responded.

"Do you know who those people are, Nurse Joy?" Ash asked.

"No, I don't. But I'm sure that they're the ones who cut out the power causing the blackout in the Centre." Nurse Joy said. But then she realized something as soon as she said that. "Then that means all the Pokemon being treated here are in danger!" she added.

"You mean my Torchic's in danger?" May asked in worry. "We have to switch over to our reserve power right away." Nurse Joy explained.

"To do that, we'll have to get out of here first." Ash said. May ran over to Ash in worry, which he noticed right away. "I'm scared, Ash. Torchic's in trouble because of this blackout, and I don't know what could happen if we don't hurry!" May explained.

"Don't worry, May. When we get out of this place, we'll be able to help Torchic by switching the power back on." Ash explained, showing May a gentle smile. May smiled back at his support. Just then, Pikachu was pointing down to an air shaft cover, which they could pull off to get through the air shaft.

"An air shaft! Pikachu, that's great." Ash smiled. Meanwhile, Jessie, James and Meowth had just finished digging their hole and came out to see that they had surfaced just in front of the Pokemon Centre.

"Okay, so I was off by a smidge." Meowth commented. They turned around to notice a group of Team Magma members there not too far behind them, with Professor Alden in their custody. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?" One of the members asked.

"We're doing whatever we want to do." Jessie responded. "You're looking at this region's top Team Rocketeers." James added. "Prepare for trouble, and make it double and all that jazz!" Meowth finished.

With this, Jessie and James both sent out their powerhouses they have had since Kanto, Arbok and Weezing. But seeing the Houndooms there, the two quickly returned them. Knowing what was coming, the three jumped back into the hold they had dug. "We must have taken a wrong turn." Jessie said.

"Sorry for the confusion, boys." James added. "Bye now!" Meowth said, and the three scattered back down the hole. "So everything I heard about them is true." One of the Magma members commented. Inside the pitch black Pokemon Centre, Ash was crawling through the air shaft with Pikachu following him. "Ash, slow down!" Someone behind Ash called. Ash turned around in surprise to see that May was following him.

"May, why are you coming?" Ash asked. "Why would I miss out on the adventure?" May asked in response. The two continued to find there are two shafts going in different directions. Pikachu listened out carefully and he pointed to the shaft heading to the left.

"That way, huh?" Ash asked. Pikachu ran off ahead, and then pointed to the left again. Ash and May caught up to find that Pikachu had found the exit, and they both smiled. "Pikachu's pretty smart, Ash." May commented. Ash burst the air shaft cover off, and he and May crawled out of the shaft and started to make their way to find where the lights were. As Ash came to the desk and had a look, he smiled when he found something.

"It's the Mastery Key Nurse Joy was talking about." Ash smiled. May switched the reserve power lights on and the two headed back to find Nurse Joy. "We're all set." Ash said. Nurse Joy smiled at this. "Will you be all right by yourself, Nurse Joy?" Ash asked.

"Yes, I will." Nurse Joy responded. "That's great. We're going to go help Professor Alden." Ash said. With this, he and May started to head off to the ruins. Meanwhile at the ruins, Professor Alden was being confronted by the Team Magma members.

"What's going on? Why have you brought me here?" Professor Alden asked. "Why do you think? We brought you here so you could help us gain access to the Stone Chamber." One of the members responded.

Professor Alden turned around to see the entrance of the chamber behind him. "It won't work. If we try to force our way in, the chamber will collapse." Professor Alden said.

"But you said yourself that the way in is written on this little tablet. Isn't that right, Professor?" The member asked, holding up the tablet. "That's true, but I also said that I need to have the four treasures as keys." Professor Alden responded.

"Of course. The keys? Here you are." The member said, and another one of them showed a small case with the four treasures, four little different coloured balls, inside. "What? Where did you find them?" Professor Alden asked in disbelief.

"You see, we have friends in high places. The only thing left to do is to find out which key goes in which hole, and you will help us with that." The member explained. "I won't!" Professor Alden responded immediately.

"Really? Then I can assume that you don't care about the fate of those poor people at the Pokemon Centre." The member said. "You wouldn't!" Professor Alden said, realising what the member was talking about.

"We would, and will if you don't obey. So, what will it be?" The member asked. Professor Alden remained silent at this dilemma, but then he sighed. "You win." he said. Soon, he was busy inserting the small balls in the right place. Once he was done, the ruins suddenly started to rumble, much to his and the Team Magma members' surprise. The four keys started to glow brightly and the door started to move to reveal the entrance to the chamber. The Magma members and Professor Alden came inside, and Professor Alden was amazed to see that there were ancient writings and drawings on the walls.

"These panels depict ancient Pokemon and people living together!" Professor Alden smiled, amazed. The Team Magma members were looking around, and one of the members asked "Do you see the information we came for?"

"Not a trace!" Another one of the members responded. "We've come up with nothing again! Let's pull out!" The first member said. By that time, Ash and May had both arrived and they were surprised to find that the Team Magma members were leaving in their helicopter.

"There they go!" Ash said, as the helicopter drifted away. Professor Alden turned to notice that Ash and May had arrived and he smiled. "Are you going to be all right?" May asked, concerned.

"Yes. I'll be just fine." Professor Alden responded. "Who were those guys, anyway?" Ash asked, wondering about the helicopter that had just left. Just then, Jessie, James and Meowth had arrived having made it after their endeavour through their self-dug hole, and they were holding up the four keys.

"You guys?" Ash asked, as he, May and Professor Alden turned around to see them.

"You guys give back those treasures!" Professor Alden said. Jessie sent out her Arbok to take care of this, but Ash had come prepared for this. "Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash said. Pikachu charged straight into Arbok and sent it flying right into the trio, causing them to drop the four keys.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash added to finish this out. Pikachu released a powerful bolt of lightning, causing the Rocket Trio to be sent flying into the night sky and vanishing in their familiar fashion. Professor Alden reinserted the four keys back into their regular place.

"They're back where they belong." he said. But then, the trio turned around to see that the sun had risen; it was morning. But then, they looked in surprise to find the four keys glowing a bright white and sending the white light through all the circuits on the walls and they were amazed as they watched this on. The tablet slowly moved to show a hidden staircase.

"What's this?" Professor Alden asked. Ash and May smiled; this was probably the entrance into the ancient ruins. "Well, let's take a look!" Professor Alden said. As Ash and May headed down the staircase, Ash offered May his hand much to her surprise.

"It's just so you don't get lost while we're down there." Ash said. May smiled at this, and took his hand. "Thanks, Ash." she responded. Ash smiled at this, and the two followed Professor Alden down the staircase. When they arrived at the bottom, they were amazed to find themselves in a cave with a large pool of water.

"It's an enormous underground water supply!" Professor Alden said. Just then, the three were amazed to see a Relicanth jump out of the surface and then land back in the water. "It's the ancient Pokemon, Relicanth!" Professor Alden smiled.

"Relicanth?" Ash asked in surprise. "It is true. These ruins are a passage between the present and the past!" Professor Alden said, amazed. May looked over at Ash with a bright smile.

"Ash, this is amazing. We found the secret of the ruins! And I never realized it looked so beautiful." May smiled. The two held hands as they looked at this; they were so happy they got to find what they were looking for, which was the secret of the Oldale Ruins. Back at the Pokemon Centre, Ash and May went to pick up Torchic.

"May, I'm happy to say that Torchic is as good as new." Nurse Joy said. "That's great. Thank you." May smiled, as she took the Pokeball Torchic was in. She then opened it to release Torchic and see how she was feeling. Torchic turned around with a smile on her beak, and happily ran over and jumped into May's arms.

"I'm so glad you feel better." May smiled. Ash then turned to ask Nurse Joy something. "Excuse me, Nurse Joy. Did you find out anything else about those crooks?" he asked.

"Officer Jenny is doing everything she can, but so far, no clues." Nurse Joy responded. "Well, I guess it's time for us to head over to Petalburg City, right?" Ash asked, smiling.

"Ash!" The two looked to see that it was Professor Alden coming over to see them. "Leaving so soon?" he asked. Ash nodded in agreement. "I've been doing a bit more research over at the Stone Chamber and so far, every indication has pointed to ancient Pokemon and man interacting peacefully." Professor Alden explained.

"You've learnt so much, and so quickly too!" May smiled. "I can hardly stop working now. There are so many undiscovered secrets in the world of Pokemon!" Professor Alden said. Soon, Ash and May were back on the road to continue their adventure.

"I forgot! I never found out who the new Petalburg Gym Leader is." Ash said. May looked over at him upon the mention of that, and she started to get nervous. "I don't know either." she said. Ash looked over at her, wondering if she knew something about this but then decided not to think about

"I'm going to my first Gym Leader, and that first Gym Badge is mine!" Ash smiled. This was going to be a great new adventure, and Ash was sure it would be exciting.


	3. There's No Place Like Hoenn

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**Chapter 3: There's No Place like Hoenn**

Ash ran up to the edge of the hill and smiled. "Wow! It's Petalburg City!" he smiled. "Pikachu, our first battle in the Hoenn Region is coming up." Ash said. But then, he turned around to see that May had just caught up with him.

"Ash, can you please wait for me? Would you mind telling me what the rush is about?" May asked. "What do you think, May? I've got a Gym battle waiting for me!" Ash responded, and started to make his way down the hill while May watched on in surprise.

"Can't we slow down?" May asked. After a few seconds, she sighed; this wasn't going to be easy for her. Soon as they arrived in the city, Ash and May both sat at the playground nearby on the rocks. "So, Petalburg Gym's a big deal, huh?" May asked.

"Yeah, it is. If I win in a Gym battle there, I get a Badge. And once I get eight of those Badges, I can compete in the Hoenn League." Ash explained. "Wow, that sounds great." May smiled. Pikachu couldn't agree more; he was looking forward to his next League challenge.

"You want to compete in the Hoenn League as well, right, May?" Ash asked. May was surprised at first, but then she started to smile, even though she was a bit nervous.

"Of course I do, Ash." May responded. "I thought so. I wonder what the Petalburg Gym Leader's like." Ash commented, as he looked out to see the Gym nearby. May was feeling even more nervous; she knew exactly who it was, but hadn't told Ash yet.

"I'm sure he's a nice guy." May said. Ash looked at May in surprise, hearing that. "May, do you know who the Gym Leader is?" he asked. May quickly looked away, not wanting to give it away just yet.

"I don't really know him too well, but from what I've heard, he's a very kind and strong person. And I've also heard that he's really handsome." May explained, getting into different positions during her explanation. Ash was surprised; he was wondering how May knew so much about the Gym Leader though she didn't know who it was.

"It sounds like you know him very well, May." Ash commented. May was surprised, but she started to look away from Ash; she didn't really want to reveal who it was to him just yet.

"No. I just wish I did." May responded. Ash was confused, but then he smiled having an idea. With this, he stood up not noticing that May wasn't looking at him. "I have an idea, May. Why don't you come with me, so we can meet the Gym Leader together?" Ash asked. May looked back at him, still feeling a bit nervous about the idea.

"That sounds great, but I won't be there just yet." May responded. "Why not?" Ash asked, confused. Smiling nervously, May started to head out of the playground while Ash watched on in surprise.

"I need to take care of a few things, but I'll be there soon. See you later, Ash!" May said, and rushed off. As Pikachu happily waved to May, Ash was standing there confused; he was wondering about why May had been acting this way since he mentioned the Gym Leader.

"Okay. I'll see you soon, May." Ash responded, even though he was still a bit confused. Soon, he and Pikachu arrived at the Gym; it was a large building with an official Pokemon Gym Badge symbol on the front. "Here it is, the Pokemon Gym." Ash said. He looked over at Pikachu who sat on his shoulder and said "Let's go give it our best shot!" But as he came inside, he was surprised to find that the Gym was empty.

"Hello? Is someone here? I'm ready for my first Gym Battle." Ash said. As he came inside to have a look, a young boy of 10 years old with blue hair, wearing a pair of glasses, a green t-shirt, brown shorts and sneakers, and holding a book came inside and Ash turned around to see him.

"Can you please keep it down? I'm the middle of watching a video of the Silver Conference." The young boy explained. Ash was surprised, but smiled.

"I'm sorry about that. It's just that I'm looking for the Gym Leader." Ash explained. When the young boy looked up to see Ash, he suddenly started to smile.

"It's really you!" he said. "Yeah, that's right. But how do you know me?" Ash asked in surprise. "You were in the Johto League Silver Conference!" The young boy explained. Ash nodded in agreement; that was true. "You lost in the second round." The boy said. Ash was dismayed; that was something he didn't want to remember. After all, he was still a bit young when that happened; he was probably still this boy's age.

"Hold on, I remember your name. Don't tell me. Isn't it Al?" The boy asked. "Actually, my name's Ash." Ash responded. The young boy then looked down to notice Pikachu beside Ash and smiled.

"That's Pikachu!" he said. With this, he picked Pikachu up and started to hug him, while Pikachu was feeling a bit uncertain about this. "Hi, Pikachu. My name's Max." The young boy said. Ash stood up to notice Max and Max turned around to Ash. "I saw you compete in the Silver Conference live, and I've been watching the videos I made ever since." Max explained. He then came over to Ash and explained "You lost in the second round, and then you get beaten by Harrison and his Blaziken, and that was it for you." Max explained.

"You don't need to talk about the rounds I lost. I did make it to the victory round, you know." Ash explained, doing his best not to get frustrated by how much Max knew.

"I know. Your battle was awesome! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! That final battle between your Charizard and Blaziken was really cool. Both Pokemon just kept taking one attack after another, and kept getting back up. But I guess Charizard just couldn't handle it. If you had to do it over again, wouldn't you have used Charizard's attacks more effectively? If I had been there, I would have won it. You've still got a long way to go." Max explained. Ash was surprised, but decided to set this little guy straight by this point.

"Hold on, Max. It's one thing to watch it on TV and another to actually be battling. Both of those things are completely different, you know. You never actually realise how hard it is until you experience it for yourself!" Ash explained. Max looked at Ash with that continuing grin on his face.

"Oh, I get it. You still have some nerve coming here after losing, though." Max explained. That must have set Ash off, because he immediately stood up and yelled "I told you, it was the second round of the Victory Tournament! Don't you get it? You need to be a very experienced Trainer to get that far!"

"But you still lost, though, right?" Max asked, adjusting his glasses. That certainly did it for Ash, because he was really upset by now.

"That's it! I don't want to talk about this anymore! Not to mention, I just came here to look for the Gym Leader." Ash explained. Max smiled at this; he was wondering when he was going to hear that.

"The Gym Leader, huh? Well, that's me." Max responded. Ash and Pikachu looked at him in surprise, wondering if he was actually serious. "That's right. The Petalburg Gym Leader is none other than me!" Max smiled. Ash was confused; this wasn't exactly what he had in mind when May was telling him about the Gym Leader, but he decided not to bring that up for now.

"I'm not sure if this is what I had in mind, but I'm ready!" Ash said. Hearing that, Max ran over to the other end of the arena and turned around to face Ash. "Before we start our battle, I want to explain something about the Gym rules. All Pokemon battles are three on three." Max explained. Ash was surprised by this; he had all his old Pokemon at Professor Oak's lab and he hadn't taken the liberty of catching any new Pokemon yet, so that meant he only had Pikachu.

"So, let's bring out our Pokemon! You're first." Max said. Ash was surprised, and decided to clear something up about the rules before they got started. "Hold on a minute. From what I remember, the Gym Leaders bring their Pokemon out first." Ash said.

"No. You need to send your Pokemon out first!" Max retorted. "Well, that's not what I remember." Ash said, doing his best not to lose his temper like he usually did. Max was getting annoyed by this, and immediately ran over to Ash.

"Well, the rules you heard must have been different!" Max said. As Ash was trying to work out how to avoid making this matter worse for him, May then looked through the window. "Max, what's going on?" she asked. Ash and May then looked to see her, and Ash smiled.

"May, there you are! I was wondering when you were going to catch up." Ash said. Max looked at Ash in surprise when he heard this.

"You know my sister?" he asked. "May's your sister?" Ash asked, in equal surprise. Just then, a grown up man and woman came over with May to see the two.

"Well, who have we here?" The man asked. "Hello." The woman smiled. Ash was confused, wondering what was going on. Sometime later, everyone had gathered sitting on the seats at the back of the Gym, and Ash had let May sit beside him; he was thinking she could help him work all of this out.

"Ash, I'd like you to meet my parents." May said. "I'm Norman." The man said. "And I'm Caroline." The woman added. May then looked down at Max, who was sitting beside Norman and Caroline.

"And you already met my little brother, Max?" May asked. Ash nodded, even though he had to admit the introduction was a little rocky for him. "You see, the real Gym Leader's my dad." May said. Ash was surprised; everything suddenly made sense to him, and it explained why May had been so nervous the entire time.

"So, that means this is where you live, May?" Ash asked. May was nervous about what Ash's response was, but she slowly nodded. "How come you didn't tell me this before, May?" Ash asked. May looked down with worry; she figured that was how Ash would respond.

"I'm sorry, Ash. I just didn't know what you would say." May said. Ash was surprised, but then he smiled and took May's hand, to which she looked up at him to see his smile. "May, you didn't need to worry at all. You should have just told me from the start; I wouldn't have said anything." Ash explained. May smiled and nodded; she would remember that.

"We really appreciate you coming along with May home." Caroline said. "It wasn't much. I just didn't want to see May go by herself; I didn't want to her to be alone during then." Ash explained. May beamed as she listened to Ash; hearing him talk like that was making her feel really happy. But then, Max stood up and pointed to Ash.

"This is the guy who was in the Johto League Silver Conference. I suddenly remembered his name as well; it's Ash." Max explained. Ash was just glad that Max didn't bring up the face that he lost in the second round.

"So that means you're not really the Gym Leader, right, Max?" Ash asked. Max shook his head; it was quite a surprise to him that Ash couldn't tell that he was only 10 years old. Caroline then looked at May, remembering something May had brought up on the way.

"What happened to your bike, May?" Caroline asked. May ended up explaining that Pikachu had electrocuted her bike not long after she met Ash. "I'm sorry about that, May." Ash said, still feeling a bit upset over that incident; it had happened to him once before after all.

"It's not a big deal. Bikes are replaceable." Norman said. "And besides, walking is better for your health, anyway." Caroline added. May had to agree with this, and then she looked over at Ash who was still watching this on.

"What made it better was that I got to spend time with Ash." May said. Ash smiled; that made him feel a lot better about the incident. "So, May, which Pokemon did you get from Professor Birch, anyway?" Norman asked.

"Yeah, what'd you get, sis?" Max asked. May got out her Pokeball that had Torchic in it and threw it, causing it to open and release Torchic. Max was alarmed, seeing Torchic. "You got Torchic? If I got to choose, I would have gone with Treecko." Max said. That made Torchic mad, because she started pecking Max rapidly.

"Torchic, stop it!" May gasped, seeing this. "I think Torchic's a fine Pokemon to start out with, May." Norman said, as he and Caroline came over to see Torchic as well.

"Not to mention, it's really cute." Caroline added, smiling. Max then looked down at Torchic, bruised from all the rapid pecks at him.

"I can't wait to get my own Pokemon as well. I'd love to have a Treecko." Max said. That set Torchic off again, as she started to rapidly peck Max all over again. Caroline then looked over at Ash, who had been watching this all the while.

"Ash, why don't you join us for lunch? You must be starved." Caroline said. Ash couldn't agree more with that. Sometime later, the family had gathered at the table, with May sitting beside Ash, and Caroline looked up at Ash. "So, Ash, I heard from May that you've been travelling for a long time." Caroline said.

"Yeah, I've been to a lot of places." Ash agreed. "That sounds so cool. I would like to go to different places as well." Max said. May smiled as she listened to this; she was really happy that Ash didn't say anything about the fact that she hadn't told him anything, and that he was really happy to meet her family.

"And have you been travelling alone?" Caroline asked. "Actually, I've been travelling with some of my friends, and Pikachu, of course." Ash said, looking over at Pikachu who was sitting beside him.

"That's good. Travelling with friends always makes it easier." Norman said. "Yeah, and it's a lot of fun as well." Ash added. Max had been listening to this; he was looking forward to when he could start travelling, and with his friends as well.

"Dad, Ash said he'd like to have a Gym battle with you." May said. "Yeah, I hope that's okay." Ash agreed. Norman smiled at this; he was thinking that was what Ash was looking forward to.

"Of course it is. How many Badges have you collected so far, Ash?" Norman asked. "I've just started, so this will be my first one." Ash responded. But then he suddenly remembered something; the rules were that it was a three on three Pokemon battle, and since he hadn't caught any new Pokemon yet, that meant he didn't know how to deal with this.

"You know, you could have your old Pokemon transferred from the Pokemon Centre." Caroline said. "That's true, but I decided to start over new and catch Pokemon I find here in Hoenn. When I catch new Pokemon, I'll be able to come back and have the Gym battle." Ash explained.

"That isn't necessary. Since you came all this way, I'll battle you. But, it won't be official." Norman said. Ash was all right with this; he was just happy that he could have a chance to have a Gym battle anyway. Soon, everyone was at the Gym; Ash and Norman had taken their positions while Caroline, May and Max watched on from the seats at the back.

"All right, Pikachu, let's give it our best!" Ash smiled. Pikachu then headed out onto the battle field; he was ready for action. "Do your best, Ash!" May called. Ash looked over at her and nodded in agreement; he liked hearing her support him. Norman sent out his main trademark, Vigoroth. Surprised, Ash got out his Pokedex to see what it was.

"Vigoroth, the Wild Monkey Pokemon. Vigoroth is only comfortable going berserk. It will destroy anything by spinning both arms, and will go more berserk when done." The Pokedex explained. Vigoroth then showed its razor sharp claws, which alarmed Ash and Pikachu. It then roared at the two, startling them. May was feeling a bit worried, while Max was excited.

"Dad's Vigoroth is ready to go!" Max smiled. Ash felt a bit concerned as well; he was wondering what attacks Vigoroth was going to use. He only knew for sure that he and Pikachu were going to do the best they could.

"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash said. Pikachu quickly jumped in, ready to go. "Vigoroth, use Scratch!" Norman said. Vigoroth went to attack Pikachu with its claws and, before Pikachu had a chance to react, sent Pikachu flying across the arena and landing hard on the ground.

"Are you all right, Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu then got up, still feeling ready for action. Vigoroth went to scratch Pikachu with its claws again, but this time, Pikachu had a chance to react and jumped out of the way, leaving Vigoroth to slash the ground. However, Vigoroth turned around and immediately slashed at Pikachu. But, Ash had an idea.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash said. Pikachu landed on the ground safely and started to charge towards Vigoroth, but Vigoroth quickly moved out of the way much to Pikachu and Ash's surprise, and then scratched at Pikachu again, sending him rolling across the area. Unknown to them, Jessie, James and Meowth were outside watching this through the window.

"Maybe we don't want Pikachu after all." James said. "Not if we get that Vigoroth instead. Its natural nastiness would make a perfect fit for Team Rocket." Jessie added. Meowth however had a great idea, as he jumped away from the window.

"Yeah, but if we gave it to the Boss, that would be even better!" Meowth said. "And if we gave him both, it would be better than that!" Jessie smiled. The three had to agree, and Wobbuffet did as well, since it popped out of its Pokeball to give its opinion. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said. Inside, Ash wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu sent out a powerful blast of electricity, but Vigoroth avoided that as well. "That Vigoroth's fast!" Ash commented in surprise. May was watching on, and she had an idea to help Ash. "Ash, when Vigoroth's not moving, that's your chance to attack!" May called. Ash turned to May hearing this suggestion and smiled.

"Thanks, May! Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash said. Pikachu charged right into Vigoroth, successfully hitting this time. May smiled, seeing her idea worked and Caroline was impressed as well.

"I didn't think Ash would have a chance against your dad's Vigoroth." Caroline said. "I know. Ash is good, isn't he?" May asked. "Well, he did make it to the Silver Conference Victory Round." Max said. May nodded in agreement; she could tell Ash was doing his best.

Vigoroth then scratched against Pikachu again, and charged into Pikachu, sending him flying across the Gym and hitting the wall, falling to the ground unconscious. Ash then ran over to check on his friend. "Pikachu, are you all right?" Ash asked. Pikachu looked up at Ash with a smile; that meant he was all right.

"That was a good battle, Ash." Norman said. "That Vigoroth is really strong. There are a lot of tough Pokemon in the Hoenn Region, aren't there, Pikachu?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded in agreement; this battle had just been an example of that. Just then, there was a loud rumble and the group looked up to see that part of the wall was demolished.

"What was that?" May asked. They looked up to see that it was none other than the Rocket Trio, standing on top of a tall rock in front of the group. "It's Team Rocket! What are they doing here?" May asked in alarm. Caroline looked over at May in surprise.

"You know these people, May?" she asked. "Yes. They're always up to no good, and trying to get in our way and steal Pikachu." May explained. Ash nodded in agreement; he had run into these guys a lot.

"It looks like you're in the right frame of mind today, but we'll show you what we can do!" Jessie said. With this, Jessie and James sent out their powerhouses, Arbok and Weezing. Weezing sent out a blast of grey smoke which surrounded the entirety of the Gym, and then Arbok charged into Pikachu, much to Ash's alarm. Vigoroth went to attempt to attack Weezing, but that wasn't so easy due of the smoke surrounding them.

"Don't worry, Ash! I'll get in there to help you! Let's go, Torchic!" May said, as she grabbed the Pokeball and threw it to release Torchic. Looking up to notice Weezing, May had an idea. "Torchic, use Ember!" May said. Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak, but Arbok charged into her before her attack could hit Weezing.

"Now, we'll take Pikachu and Vigoroth with us." Jessie said.

"That's what you think. Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Pikachu's cheeks started crackling with electricity, and he shot out a powerful bolt of lightning into the air. However, when the smoke cleared, Ash turned around to see that Max had gotten electrocuted. "Max, I'm sorry! Are you all right?" Ash asked.

"It's one thing to see Pikachu's Thunderbolt on TV, and another to actually experience it. That is impressive, though." Max said. They were surprised to see that the Rocket Trio were gone, but Pikachu and Vigoroth were still safe. However, May quickly noticed that someone was missing.

"What's wrong, May?" Ash asked, noticing her worry. "Torchic's gone!" May gasped. Alarmed, the group ran outside to see that the Rocket Trio were drifing away in their Meowth balloon, and they had Torchic in a small sack. Seeing this, May started to become upset.

"What am I going to do? I just got Torchic." May said, sadly. Ash then came over to her and gently placed one of his hands on her shoulder, to which she looked up at him.

"Don't worry, May. I'll save Torchic, I promise." Ash said. May then started to smile, knowing Ash was right; he somehow always knew how to help her when she was feeling upset. Meanwhile, Jessie, James and Meowth had landed and were ready to get their target out of the sack. But when Jessie reached into the sack, she was alarmed to see that they had abducted Torchic.

"That's not Pikachu." Meowth said. "It's a Torchic." James noticed. Torchic looked over at James with annoyance and shot small blasts of fire from her beak at his face.

"This is all wrong. You're so small; definitely not Team Rocket material." Jessie said, looking over at Torchic.

"But, if we can use Torchic to go back and beat Pikachu, everything will be fine." Meowth explained. The three immediately agreed; that sounded like a great idea. Meanwhile, Ash and the others had headed off to look for the Rocket Trio so they could find Torchic.

"I don't think they would have made it too far by now." Ash said. "Let's split up and look. Caroline, you and I will go this way." Norman said. The two started to head off, while the remaining trio consisting of Ash, May and Max watched on.

"Knowing my dad, I'm sure they'll find them." Max said. "Your parents are great." Ash commented. But, he was starting to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring any of his old Pokemon along; this search would be a lot easier if he had his Noctowl. Max, meanwhile, was looking at the ground with a magnifying glass.

"They didn't leave any tracks behind." Max commented. "That's because they headed off in a balloon, Max." May said. Max immediately stood up with a smile.

"Then, it's time to come up with a new idea. With Ash to help me, we'll solve this and find Torchic in no time!" Max smiled. Ash and May then looked at each other, wondering if this was going to get anywhere soon. Just then, Norman and Caroline arrived back.

"We were able to find where the hot balloon went, so we can find Torchic." Norman said. Soon, the group looked out from a bush to see the familiar Meowth balloon, and May was shocked to see that Torchic was being locked in a small cage.

"Torchic! Don't worry, I'll be right there!" May called. As she started to run out from the bush, Ash quickly pulled her back. "Ash, what are you doing? I have to help Torchic!" May said, looking back at him.

"I know these guys well, May. They like to set up traps so we don't get through easily. So, we'll need to head out carefully." Ash explained. May was silent, but then she nodded in understanding. She and Ash headed out of the bush and started to walk slowly towards the cage Torchic was being held in, but as they got close, the ground collapsed under May's feet and she nearly fell into the hole. Luckily, Ash noticed and quickly pulled her back up, and the two looked down to see the hole in front of them.

"Now I see what you mean. Thanks, Ash." May said, looking over at him with a smile. Ash smiled back, but then the two turned around to see the trio come out to see them. "I don't get it. Usually, you always fall for it." Jessie commented in surprise.

"Maybe that's because I'm used to the traps you guys set and don't fall for it easily, now." Ash responded. Jessie quickly sent Arbok to deal with the two, but Pikachu charged right into Arbok, sending it flying back. Max, Norman and Caroline came out to see the trio, to which Ash and May turned to see them coming over.

"How dare you steal other people's Pokemon, much less my little girl's first Pokemon!" Norman said, directing his attention to the Rocket Trio. "It looks like we've got a big bad mad dad." Jessie commented. Norman sent out his Vigoroth, which then slashed at Arbok with its sharp claws. James then sent out Weezing to teach Vigoroth a lesson, but Vigoroth was ready to go. During that time, Max snuck over to the cage Torchic was being held in.

"I'll save you, Torchic." Max said. Torchic looked over at Max and happily smiled at him. Max picked up the cage and went to May, who got it from him. "Here you go, May. Torchic is safe." Max said. Smiling, May opened the cage and picked Torchic up, happily hugging her as well.

"Torchic, I'm so glad you're okay." May smiled. While this was happening, Vigoroth was still dealing with Arbok. Arbok wrapped its long tail around Vigoroth, stopping it from going anywhere. Ash, however, knew exactly what to do.

"Let's go, Pikachu. Vigoroth needs help." Ash said. Pikachu charged into Arbok, while May came in to help as well.

"I'll show you for trying to steal Torchic! Are you ready, Torchic?" May asked, looking over at her little partner. Torchic nodded in agreement; she was ready to go. "Great! Then, Torchic, use Ember!" May said. Torchic shot small blasts of fire from her beak at Arbok, causing it to let go of Vigoroth. Since Vigoroth was free, it then charged right into both Arbok and Weezing, sending them flying into the Rocket Trio, and they all landed right into the balloon.

"Let's go, Pikachu. Thunderbolt!" Ash smiled, ready to send them flying. Pikachu sent out a strong bolt of electricity, electrifying them and their Pokemon and causing the balloon, sending them flying into the air.

"Why couldn't we have grabbed that Vigoroth instead of a tiny Torchic?" Jessie asked. "From now on, I'll just be happy with whatever we get." James said. "Well, I'd be happy if we just get a life!" Meowth commented. They were sent flying into the sky and vanished out into the distance. After they were gone, May happily hugged Torchic.

"I'm so glad you're back safely, Torchic." May said. "It looks like Torchic is very fond of you, May." Norman said. "I'm so happy for the both of you." Caroline said. May then looked over at Ash, who was watching this on with Max. After withdrawing Torchic into her Pokeball, May ran over to Ash and hugged him as well.

"Ash, thank you for helping me save Torchic. You're the best." May smiled. Ash was surprised, but then he smiled as May let go and held both of his hands.

"You're welcome, May. I'm just glad to help you out." Ash responded. The two smiled at each other, before they noticed that Max was watching them and they immediately let go. But, they couldn't help smiling at each other nonetheless. That evening, Ash and May were ready to keep going.

"I guess it's time for you two to get going. Do you have everything, May?" Caroline asked. May nodded in agreement; she was ready to go. Just then, Max came over to Ash and May.

"Can I come along as well? I would love to join you on your adventure, and help you out if I can." Max said. Ash and May were both surprised hearing this, but Norman nodded in agreement.

"Max does know a lot about Pokemon, so it would be a big help for him to join you." Norman said. "And that helps me worry less, too." Caroline added. "Ash, is it all right if Max comes along with you and May?" Norman asked. Ash nodded; he was looking forward to travelling with just May, but he didn't see anything wrong with this.

"Yeah, that's all right." Ash responded. "Thanks, Ash. That helps me worry less as well." May smiled, as she looked over at him.

"I also have something to give you two: your Gym Leader Badge cases, so you can store the Gym Badges you win." Norman said, holding up two small cases. Ash and May both took one case each, and Ash smiled as he looked at it.

"Thanks, Norman. Let's go do our best, May!" Ash said. May smiled and nodded in agreement; she was looking forward to this more now.

"And this is for you, Max." Norman said, holding up a PokeNav. Max smiled as he looked at it. "With that, you'll always know where you are." Norman said, as Ash and May looked down at the PokeNav with Max. "I suggest that you go to the nearest Gym from here, and that's in Rustboro City." Norman said. Ash and May nodded in agreement; they knew that was their first destination now.

"Take care, you two." Caroline said, as Ash and May started to head off after Max who had run off ahead. "And do your best." Norman added.

"We will!" Ash responded. "We'll see you again soon!" May said, and the two started to run off after Max, ready for their new adventure. They were travelling together, and they knew it was going to be great.


	4. You Never Can Taillow!

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**Chapter 4: You Never Can Taillow!**

As Ash, May and Max continued their way down the road into the forest, Max was looking through a pair of electronic binoculars to try and find some new Pokemon. "I haven't seen any new Pokemon yet, but I'm sure we will soon." Max commented, as he looked around. Ash was still feeling all right, while May was feeling a bit hungry by this point so she went over to Ash.

"Ash, do you think we could stop to have some lunch soon?" May asked. Ash looked over at her in surprise, while Max pulled down his binoculars to look up at his older sister. "I haven't found any new Pokemon yet, though. Do you think we can wait a little longer, sis?" Max asked.

"May's right, Max. I think we should have a break now. Besides, we haven't been able to find new Pokemon since we got here yet." Ash explained. May smiled when she heard this suggestion, while Max was looking around the forest in confusion.

"But I heard that Petalburg Forest is full with a lot of Pokemon, so you can't miss them. We must be in the wrong part of the forest." Max said. May then grabbed Ash's arm and pulled him over to look at her.

"Ash, I would like to have lunch now. Can we have a break?" May asked. Ash was about to agree, before Max immediately ran over to her. "Not yet, May. I want to look for new Pokemon!" Max responded.

"Well, I haven't eaten since we left Petalburg City, so I think it would be better to have a break!" May retorted. Ash decided it would be better to settle this argument down before it got any worse, so he turned and looked at the two.

"All right, calm down, you two! We'll stop for a lunch break, and then we'll decide which way to go." Ash explained. May and Max immediately agreed; that sounded like a great idea. The three sat down on the rocks so they could have a break. "We needed a break anyway. Besides, it'll be better looking for Pokemon on a full stomach." Ash said. May and Max nodded in agreement; they knew that was true.

"I was getting a bit hungry." Max said. "Yeah, I was looking forward to lunch as well." May agreed. The three smiled brightly, but then they started to catch on with something. "So, where's lunch, Ash?" May asked.

"I thought you were carrying it, Max." Ash said, looking over at Max. "Weren't you carrying it, May?" Max asked, looking over at her. May immediately shook her head; she didn't remember being asked to do it. Ash was confused, but then he had some thought to himself, and then he smiled.

"That's right! I remembered I was the one who was supposed to bring lunch." Ash said. He grabbed his bag, had a bit of a search through it, and brought out four containers, three were square-shaped and the last one had a label that said it was for Pokemon. "I got some for everyone. Here's your Pokemon food, Pikachu." Ash said, handing the Pokemon food container to Pikachu. Pikachu smiled as he looked at the container and started to take the lid off. Ash then looked over at May and Max holding the other three containers, and gave one to both of them. "And this is for us; I got us some sandwiches before we left." Ash said.

"Thanks, Ash. I'm glad you remembered." May said. Ash smiled at this, but when he opened his container, he was alarmed to see that it was empty.

"Someone stole my sandwich!" Ash noticed. Confused, May and Max opened their containers to notice the same thing. "They got to ours as well!" Max said. The three were upset by this, as they sat down on the ground.

"This is just great. We don't have anything to eat now." May sighed. Meanwhile, Pikachu had just taken the lid off his food container, but he was horrified to see that it was empty as well, and he passed out landing beside Ash.

"Looks like they got to the Pokemon food as well. I'm sorry, Pikachu." Ash said, noticing Pikachu lying on the ground. He then sighed and lay back against the rock he had been sitting on, resting his head against his arms. "This would be easier if Brock was coming with us." Ash commented.

"Brock?" May asked. "Who's he?" Max asked, equally as confused as May was.

"Brock is an old friend I was travelling with. He knows a lot about Pokemon, and he really knows how to cook too." Ash explained. He and Pikachu smiled brightly; that was quite the fun time when Brock was still around. Annoyed by this, May pulled Ash's hat down over his eyes. "Why'd you do that, May?" Ash asked, as he was trying to pull his hat back up.

"Maybe you should have thought twice before deciding not to bring him along for the ride." May said, sarcastically. Ash pulled his hat back up and just smiled at her. Meanwhile, the Rocket Trio were watching them on from their hiding place; they were the ones who had stolen the food.

"Looks like there's some discord among the new friends." James commented, as he and Jessie were munching on the sandwiches. "They're just cranky because they're out of food." Jessie said.

"So we strike while the stomach is grumbling and that's when I say let's pinch that Pikachu!" Meowth smiled. Wobbuffet then popped out of its Pokeball and said "Wobbuffet!" But when Meowth noticed that there wasn't any response from Jessie and James, he became annoyed and asked "What's your problem?"

"I'm still eating." Jessie responded, with her mouth full. Meowth stared at her in surprise, while James put in his own opinion. "Meowth, were you born in a barn? It's terrible manners to get up and leave in the middle of a meal." James explained. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet agreed. This set Meowth off, because he was really upset by this.

"There's nothing wrong with being born in a barn!" Meowth yelled. Meanwhile, Max was feeling hungry, so he reached into his bag to get something. "What have you got, Max?" May asked, brightening up. In response, Max brought out a packet of chocolate cookies.

"You have chocolate cookies? That's great!" Ash smiled. "You are going to share with your sister, right?" May asked, as she and Ash brightened up. Max brought out a small bar and held it up to them.

"It's my emergency stash, so we can only have one." Max said. "That's okay. If we split, we'll each get one bite." Ash responded. May smiled and nodded in agreement. However, an unfamiliar Pokemon was watching them from the bushes. It suddenly swooped in and snatched the bar out of Max's hand, much to the three's surprise. They looked up to see the Pokemon flying away and started to run after it.

"I finally found a Pokemon!" Max smiled, as the three were off. "What is that?" Ash asked, as he was trying to catch up with May and Max since they were running ahead of them.

"It's a Taillow!" Max responded. Confused, Ash grabbed out his Pokedex to find out more. "Taillow, the Tiny Sallow Pokemon. Taillow has a fierce personality, never backing down even against the most powerful opponents." The Pokedex explained. Taillow was flying away with the chocolate bar tightly gripped in its claws. Ash smiled at this information, but then May started running ahead of him and Max, determined to get the chocolate back.

"Be careful, May! Where there's one Taillow, there's always a whole flock of them." Max called. As they came to an area of the forest with a bunch of trees with apples hanging from their branches, Taillow landed on one branch and started to munch on the chocolate while Ash, May and Max caught up with it.

"Give us back our chocolate!" May called. However, Taillow didn't listen and it munched the chocolate whole, which really made May upset.

"I guess that Taillow really must have been hungry." Ash commented. As Max agreed with him, Pikachu was looking around to see that there were a bunch of munched up apples lying around. "Taillow! How did you like my chocolate?" Max asked. "Taillow!" Taillow responded; it really enjoyed the chocolate. May however was really upset; they didn't have any food.

"Don't worry, May. We'll find food in the next town." Ash said, looking down at her. Pikachu then tugged on Ash's pants, which caused Ash to look down at him, wondering what it was. Pikachu then pointed down to the eaten apples, which Ash noticed right away. Ash was confused at first, but then he caught on and looked up at the trees with a bright smile. "Look at that! These trees are full of apples!"Ash said. May and Max both beamed, knowing what that meant.

Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity, causing apples to fall from the trees towards the group. Unfortunately, this caused a flock of Taillow to also fly out, and they all had apples in their beaks. "Not again!" May said, sadly. What made their situation even worse was that all the Taillow had their eyes on the group, and they were really angry.

"It looks about they're about to attack." Max said. "Well, they have their fruit back, so what's the problem?" May asked, confused.

"I think they're upset because we might be in their territory." Ash responded. "In that case, they might be angry because we were going to eat some of their fruit." Max added.

"What should we do, Ash?" May asked. Before Ash had a chance to respond, the leader of the flock, the Taillow with chocolate smeared on its beak, ordered for the flock to attack. Ash quickly ran in front of May and Max to protect them; he had an idea. "Be careful, Ash." May said. Ash looked back at her, nodded in agreement and directed his attention to Pikachu.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity, zapping the entire flock of Taillow and causing all of them to plummet to the ground, unconscious.

"That was close." May commented, relieved. "It's good for us that electric attacks are so effective against flying types." Max said. "Yeah. That should keep them down for a while." Ash agreed. However much to their alarm, the Taillow started to get up and take to the air again.

"I guess not!" Ash added, quickly. "What's going on?" May asked. "How could they have recovered so quickly?" Max asked, in equal alarm. As the Taillow started to charge at them again, Pikachu started to electrocute them again, but the entire flock broke out of the electrocution, much to Pikachu's alarm.

"That's not good."Ash said, realizing that the Taillow flock were surrounding them. "How is this possible? Pikachu had a direct hit at them!" Max commented, as the three were backed up against each other around the Taillow flock.

"Remember what the Pokedex said, Max? Taillow are fierce and they won't back down, no matter how strong the opponent is." Ash said. Nearby, the Rocket Trio of Jessie, James and Meowth were watching them from their hiding place in the bushes.

"Those Taillow are fantastic, aren't they?" Jessie asked, as the three looked on at the flock. "Bold and courageous, just like us." James agreed.

"And they've got a knack for collecting chocolate cookies." Meowth added. "Just think of the power we'd have when the Taillow are on our side." Jessie said, as the Trio looked at each other.

"Catching Pikachu would be easy with a flock of them." James commented. "And it'll be a feather in our cup!" Meowth said. Pikachu electrocuted one of the Taillow, causing it to plummet out of the air, but then it quickly flew back up.

"You know, I think that Taillow's the leader." May said. "Well, the chocolate moustache on its face also means that it's the one that started all this." Max added. The Taillow started to charge towards them, which Ash noticed right away.

"Look out, Pikachu!" Ash warned. Pikachu noticed almost immediately and jumped out of the way just as the Taillow came towards him. As the Taillow started to come back around, it charged right into Pikachu sending him dragging across the ground. Taillow then turned around for a second attack, but Pikachu released a strong blast of electricity to electrocute it. However, Taillow once again broke out of the electricity, much to the group's alarm.

"They're closing in on us!" May noticed. The entire flock started to charge at the group, having cornered them. As the Taillow got closer, Pikachu was ready to fight back and Ash was ready to protect May and Max, mainly May, no matter what. May and Max looked away, not wanting to find out what would happen. Just then, an unknown figure jumped in, and a familiar voice that Ash knew all too well could be heard.

"Forretress, use Explosion!" This caught the group by surprise, as Forretress was released from its Pokeball. It started to glow a bright white before releasing a huge explosion, causing all of the Taillow to be knocked out. After the smoke cleared from the explosion, Ash could recognize who it was almost immediately.

"It's Brock." Ash said. "That's Brock?" May and Max asked in unison, surprised. Sure enough, Brock turned his head and brightly smiled at them. Sometime later, the group came to an area near a flowing lake.

"We'll be safer outside of the forest." Brock said. As the four stopped, Brock turned to face the others. "Thanks, Brock. We were lucky you came by." Ash explained.

"Well, you should really thank Forretress." Brock responded, holding up the Pokeball Forretress was in. He then bent down to see Pikachu. "It's good to see you again, Pikachu." Brock said.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu responded happily; he felt happy to see Brock again as well. "Looks like you hurt a little bit, huh?" Brock asked, his expression quickly becoming concerned. Pikachu looked down to see that there was a bruise on his arm after the Taillow attacked him. Brock grabbed out a Potion and sprayed it on Pikachu's arm. After a few seconds, Pikachu suddenly screamed and started to blow his arm, which Ash was amused by.

"So, Brock, what are you doing out here? I thought you were going to go home." Ash said, confused. "I did, and everything's fine, so I decided to come back out. And Professor Birch told me you were headed to Rustboro City, so I decided to come out here and see if I could find you." Brock explained. Ash suddenly smiled, realizing what that was going to mean.

"Does that mean we're going to travel together again?" Ash asked. "Yeah, if you don't mind." Brock responded, offering his hand. As Ash happily took it, he responded "Best news I've had all day." He then turned to May and Max so they could have a chance to officially meet Brock.

"I'd like to introduce you to my new friends. This is May and her little brother, Max; they're both from Petalburg City. You two, this is Brock. He's training to become the best Pokemon Breeder." Ash explained, as he then directed his attention back to May and Max. May and Max both nodded; they had already heard quite a bit about Brock from Ash.

"Hi, there." May said. "Hey, Brock. Nice to meet you. It's cool being a breeder, huh?" Max asked, with a smile of excitement.

"Yeah, I still got a lot to learn, though. But, it's still great to meet you too." Brock responded. Ash then came over to Brock and turned to face May and Max. "When I met Brock, he was the Gym Leader at Pewter City." Ash explained.

"You were?" Max asked, becoming more excited by the second. "Our dad's a Gym Leader, too." May said. "May and Max's father is the Gym leader of Petalburg City." Ash explained, looking over at Brock.

"I bet you two want to become Gym Leaders too." Brock said. "Well, I don't know about that. I'm still deciding what I would like to do." May responded.

"I'm sure you'll work it out soon enough, May." Ash said. May smiled, knowing Ash was right and nodded in agreement with him. "I don't even have my own Pokemon yet." Max said. Brock went over to Max and bent down to get to his height.

"Don't worry, Max. That takes time. It'll happen before you know it." Brock explained. Max looked up at Brock to see him warmly smiling, and then smiled back and nodded in agreement; he had a feeling that Brock was right. Brock then stood back up and looked over at Ash. "That's why I left most of my Pokemon at home, so my brothers could practice." Brock added.

"That's great." Ash responded. "Your Forretress's Explosion attack was awesome!" Max commented. "Hey, thanks." Brock responded. May then came over to Brock with a flush across her face and she seemed like she really wanted to know something.

"Is it true...what Ash told us about you, that you're a really good cook?" May asked, pressing two of her fingers together and having her eye in Brock. Brock nodded in agreement; he just wanted to know why that was. "Then, how about a little sample?" May asked, smiling.

"All right, let's have some lunch." Brock responded. But, the problem was that when Brock went to check his bag, it was empty. "They're gone! There were four sandwiches in my backpack!" Brock yelled. May became upset almost immediately; she didn't know what she would do if they didn't have any food.

"Brock, is it possible you ate them already?" Max asked, tilting his head slightly. Brock turned around and immediately responded "No, although I was just about to eat one when I heard the thunderbolt and ran to see if it was Pikachu!"

"So, they disappeared during the battle. Come to think of it, we had the same problem too. I got three sandwiches for me, May and Max, and Pokemon food for Pikachu before we left. But they were gone when we decided to have a break. Then, that means some of the Taillow must have had our food when we weren't looking." Ash commented.

"Then that also means they must have had Brock's sandwiches too. Oh, I'm so hungry!" May said, sadly. She was about to collapse before Ash turned around to help keep her up.

"Taillow do tend to travel in flocks looking for food and devouring whatever they happen to come across. As you probably noticed, they're also very territorial and pretty aggressive, so other Pokemon usually run and hide whenever they hear a flock of Taillow coming." Brock explained.

"That might explain why we couldn't find any Pokemon when we got to the woods." Max said. "And why the flock attacked us when we were just trying to get some fruit out of those trees." Ash added. May wasn't so happy, though; her stomach was grumbling since she was feeling really hungry, which Ash and Max noticed.

"All right, why don't I rustle us up some stew?" Brock asked, holding up one of his ladles. May and Max immediately brightly smiled, mainly May, because she had wanted to eat for quite a while.

"Really?" May asked. "That sounds great!" Max added. Ash then turned to the two, since he could tell that they were happy.

"So, May, do you feel better now? Brock certainly knows how to solve problems like this." Ash said. May brightly smiled, and happily hugged Ash. Ash was surprised, but he decided not to argue; he was just glad May was finally happy.

"Pikachu's first. How does that sound?" Brock asked, as he held up a container of Pokemon food. Pikachu suddenly smiled at this; he was looking forward to having some lunch.

Back in the forest, the flock of Taillow were looking at the giant hole in the ground that was created from the explosion and were wondering where the group had gotten off to. "Calling all Taillow!" The flock turned around to find out where that voice was coming from. It was none other than the Rocket Trio, and Meowth was the one who had said that.

"We come baring gifts!" Jessie said. "Yummy sandwiches!" James added, as the Trio and Wobbuffet were holding up rice balls for the flock.

"They're yours to chow down, but first we got to talk and make a little deal-o." Meowth said. However the flock started to charge towards them, looking for the rice balls. This caused the Trio and Wobbuffet to panic and drop their rice balls on the ground, which the Taillow flock started to munch on.

"Or you could eat first, and then we'll talk." Meowth added, as they watched this on. "Well, I still think we should have saved one to eat ourselves." Jessie commented.

"Oh, grumbling tummies are a small price to pay to catch a Pikachu." James said. After the Taillow flock were finished with the rice balls, they looked up at the Rocket Trio and started squawking at them, confusing Jessie and James.

"They're saying they want some more." Meowth said, being the only one of the Trio to understand the Taillow. "Do you feather brains think this is a restaurant?" James asked, as he and Jessie stared in disbelief. However, Jessie had an idea to deal with this.

"That's fine. But, first you'll have to do a little something for us." Jessie explained. The Taillow flock looked on at the Trio and tilted their heads in confusion, wondering what this was about.

Back near the lake, Brock was cooking a large pot of stew. "Just a little while longer and it'll be ready." Brock said. But then, he looked to notice Ash and May brightly smiling with their mouths wide open. "Guys, you're drooling on me." Brock said, noticing their expressions. But then they looked up to notice something; Pikachu jumped up onto one of the rocks and Ash ran over to have a closer look.

"It's that same Taillow!" Ash said. Sure enough, the Taillow with chocolate smeared on its beak was flying towards them. "What does it want now?" May asked. The Taillow landed on the rock in front of Pikachu and started squawking at him. After the Taillow was done, Pikachu started to respond.

"Can you tell what they're saying?" Max asked. "That Taillow probably came back to fight." Ash said.

"Why's that?" May asked, looking over at Ash. "Am I right, Pikachu?" Ash asked, looking down at his little friend. Pikachu nodded in agreement, and Ash smiled. "All right, we accept!" Ash responded. May and Max were both surprised at this.

"What?" Max asked. "I don't understand. What exactly is the point of this?" May asked.

"I guess Taillow wants to prove which Pokemon is the best." Brock said. May and Max looked at the Taillow, wondering what was going on. "A strong opponent always makes Taillow want to battle. I'm guessing it wants a clear winner decided in its battle with Pikachu." Brock explained. Taillow then took to the sky, ready to battle.

"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash said, looking down at his little friend. Pikachu nodded, and then jumped down onto one of the rocks on the lake ready to battle against Taillow. Taillow started to make the first move charging towards Pikachu across the lake's surface.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash called. Pikachu jumped off the rock moving at an incredibly fast speed and started to jump off the other rocks at the same speed and started to charge towards Taillow. Alarmed, Taillow rolled out of the way and continued to soar through the air.

"How could Taillow have dodged Quick Attack? First attacks are almost never off target!" Max said in surprise. As Pikachu landed on one of the rocks, he started to jump out of the way of Taillow's charges at him, landing on different rocks in the process.

"Talliow can fly and Pikachu can't- a clear advantage!" May said, as she watched this on in concern. Ash looked back at her with a smile.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean Taillow has the type advantage." Ash responded. He then turned back to Pikachu and said "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu landed safely and released a strong blast of electricity at Taillow. Taillow dropped out of the air briefly, but flew back up and charged at Pikachu, causing him to jump out of the way. Pikachu then looked back to see Taillow coming back full circle for another chance to attack.

"That's one strong Taillow; it won't give up!" Ash commented, impressed. Taillow charged towards Pikachu, ready to attack. As Pikachu jumped, Taillow caught his tail in its beak, taking Pikachu into the air with it. Pikachu started to electrify Taillow, but Taillow continued to fly as if it wasn't being affected by one of its only weaknesses.

"It's not being affected. Why's that?" Max asked, as he, May and Brock watched this battle on. "Actually, the attack had an effect." Brock said. "But Taillow just won't back down." May added. Taillow broke free of the electrocution, and threw Pikachu down into the lake.

"Well, we aren't ready to give up either." Ash said. Pikachu poked his head out from the water and turned around to see Taillow coming back. Taillow then lifted one wing down, trailing across the water. "Here it comes, Pikachu. Let's finish it off for good this time! Thunder!" Ash called.

Pikachu started to crackle with electricity and started to run across the lake's surface. Pikachu and Taillow charged towards each other and collided, causing an explosion of electricity and water, surprising the entire group. The water rose into the air in a stream and once it cleared, Pikachu and Taillow were still standing, but it was clear that they were starting to become tired.

"Taillow just won't back down." May commented, as the group looked on at this. "But it's a flying type. Electric attacks should have finished it." Max said. Taillow started to get back up into the air and began to charge at Pikachu again, much to Pikachu's surprise.

"Taillow still wants to battle!"Ash said. But then, he started to have an idea; he needed to finish this before he did Taillow any more damage. "All right, well if Taillow's not going to back down this way, I'll have to do it myself!" Ash said, and he grabbed one of his empty Poke balls.

As Taillow continued to charge towards Pikachu, Ash immediately threw the Poke ball at Taillow. The Poke ball bounced off Taillow and opened it, causing Taillow to be caught in a red light and disappear inside. The Poke ball then dropped down onto the rock and its centre started to glow red. The group watched on, wondering if this would work. Sure enough, the centre stopped glowing and Pikachu was mainly relieved that it was over. Ash then picked up the Poke ball, looking at it in surprise.

Soon, he let Taillow out of the Poke ball and it was panting, completely exhausted. "Look at Taillow; it's exhausted from its battle." May said. "It's okay, Taillow. Calm down." Ash said, trying to help get it to understand. Brock got out a Potion from his pocket and sprayed it on Taillow. Taillow immediately screamed after this.

"A shot of that and some rest and you'll be good as new in no time." Brock said. Taillow looked at both of its wings, wondering what was going on. "So, Taillow, how do you feel about hitting the road with our group?" Ash asked, looking down at the bird Pokemon. Taillow happily agreed.

"All right then, we're glad to have you." Ash smiled, and wiped the chocolate off Taillow's beak. Taillow flew up onto Ash's shoulder with a bright smile.

"My name's Max, Taillow." Max said. May was hiding behind Brock, but then Ash looked over at her and smiled. "Hey, don't be scared, May. Come over and see Taillow." Ash said. May slowly walked over to Taillow, and when Taillow looked to see her, he smiled and started to nuzzle up against her. "See? Taillow likes you." Ash said. May then started to smile, and happily hugged Taillow back.

"It's nice to meet you." May said, as she let go of Taillow. "Taillow, you're my first Pokemon here in Hoenn." Ash smiled. But then, Taillow looked to notice something. "What is it?" Ash asked. The group turned around to see that the Taillow flock was coming to them.

"It's that flock again!" Max said. "They're still after us?" May asked. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder onto the rock ready to fight these guys again.

"Oh, tell me they all want to battle Pikachu." Ash sighed. "It is a possibility." Brock said. Taillow then flew off Ash's shoulder towards the flock and started squawking to try and tell them not to attack.

"You won't talk them out of it, Taillow!" A familiar voice suddenly said. Taillow and the group turned to see who said that.

"That can't be who I think it is, is it?" May asked. "It's those bad guys!" Max said.

"It's Team Rocket!"Brock said. "That's them, all right." Ash agreed. Sure enough, the Rocket Trio jumped on and landed on the rock in front of the group, happily laughing.

"What do you guys want?" Ash asked. "Some things just never change." Brock said. He was certainly right about that, because the Trio remained the persistent bunch they were in Kanto and Johto.

"I think you've already met our flock of Taillow, the newest members of the Elite Team Rocket fighting force?" James asked. Ash was alarmed; these guys were using Taillow now? He was sure that this could not be good.

"Now listen up, Taillow. The harder you battle, the more delicious sandwiches you'll get!" Jessie smiled. "Hold on! You mean like the sandwiches that were here an hour ago?" Brock asked almost immediately.

"Well, well, look who it is. The biggest twerp has made a comeback." Meowth commented, when they noticed that Brock was there. "You're right. Welcome back!" Jessie said.

"Well, if you came for lunch, I'm afraid you're a little late." James said. "Well, I already know that! They were my sandwiches!" Brock yelled back in response.

"So what you're trying to say is they were yours." James said. "They were a tad too salty." Jessie added. Just then, Brock completely lost it, knowing exactly who was responsible.

"I knew it was you!" Brock yelled. "Give them back!" Ash added. "Yeah, we're starving!" May agreed. At that point, Jessie completely lost it, knowing that this was going way too far.

"Oh, please! If you wanted them so bad, you should have written your names on your lunch bag!" Jessie snapped. "Yeah! Besides that, they're already gone! Taillow, take care of Pikachu!" Meowth said. The Taillow flock headed down to Pikachu, who was ready to fight them again.

"Oh, no you don't! You didn't count on some extra help. Let's go, Torchic!" May said, and she threw her Poke ball which had Torchic in it. The ball opened, releasing Torchic who was ready to go. Torchic dropped onto the ground and she started to run toward the flock, which Pikachu turned around to notice and May was alarmed by.

"Torchic, wait! I haven't told you what to do yet!" May called. "What's going on with May?" Brock asked, as he and Ash looked over at her.

"She's just started with Torchic, and she's still working out what to do." Ash explained. Torchic ran past Pikachu, who was watching this on, towards the flock, who moved out of the way, and ran straight into the rock, effectively knocking herself out. Upset, May immediately returned Torchic to her Poke ball.

"I've never been so humiliated." May said, sadly. "That was fun. But now, let's go, Taillow!" Jessie smiled. The entire Taillow flock drifted down, and Pikachu was ready to go. Ash's Taillow then drifted down, ready to help Pikachu. Just then, they could hear the sound of an alarm clock go off.

"The stew's ready!" Brock said. "And I'm ready to eat it!" May added with a bright smile. The group looked down at the stew, since they were ready to eat. Just then, the entire flock came over and two Taillow landed on Brock's shoulders.

"Hey everybody, would you like to join us for some lunch?" Brock asked, looking at the Taillow. The Rocket Trio couldn't believe what they were seeing; the Taillow weren't listening to them anymore.

"Now what?" Meowth asked, as they watched this on with looks of depression on their faces. "Now they'll feed us by using our dirty trick." James said. Jessie immediately brightened up, remembering something.

"Wait a second. Pikachu hasn't eaten." Jessie said. James smiled as well, knowing she was right. "We'll attack while it's weak from hunger." James said. "Another dirty trick!" Meowth smiled. Just then, something they didn't want to hear came to their ears.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. The Trio were alarmed as soon as they heard that; they knew this wouldn't end well. Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity at the Trio and sent them flying into the air in an explosion. "Sorry about that, Team Rocket, but this time you're the one who are too late. Pikachu already ate Brock's Pokemon food." Ash said, as Pikachu jumped back onto his shoulder.

"That's nice." Meowth said. "Everyone's eaten but us." Jessie noticed. "Except for that taste of our own medicine." James added. With this, the three vanished into the sky in a flash.

Soon, the group had finished their lunch, while the Taillow flock were still eating. "That was a great stew." Max said. "Ash wasn't kidding. You're an awesome chef, Brock." May said. Ash brightly smiled, knowing that May could tell he was right.

"Yeah, I told you he was a great guy to have around." Ash said. May and Max nodded in agreement. "Better than you, Ash." Max added. Ash was a bit annoyed, but May looked over at her little brother.

"At least Ash remembered to bring lunch, even if someone else ate it." May said. "Thanks, May." Ash responded. The two brightly smiled at each other, and then Brock directed his attention to May and Max.

"The two of you have an appetite that's almost as big as Ash, which makes cooking even more fun." Brock said. The Taillow flock then took back up to the sky, ready to leave.

"The Taillow are leaving?" May asked, as she and Ash stood up to watch this. "I'm guessing the Taillow ate all of the food in this area, so they have to find somewhere else." Ash said. Ash's Taillow flew up to the flock, where Brock and Max came over to see this as well.

"Looks like your Taillow's saying goodbye to all its friends, Ash." Brock commented. The flock then started to leave, while Taillow watched them on. The group watched this as well.

"There they go." Ash commented. Brock nodded in agreement, and then Ash looked back at the rest of the group. "Time for us to get moving too. Let's head out to Rustboro City!" Ash smiled. May and Max happily agreed with him; they were looking forward to getting a move on after their tough situation today.

"Great, but first we'll do the dishes." Brock said. All three of Ash, May and Max weren't looking forward to that, but they were happy that they had a new friend: none other than Taillow.


	5. In the Knicker of Time!

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**Chapter 5: In the Knicker of Time!**

Pikachu leaped up into the air; he was battling a Beedrill. While the group were on their way to Rustboro, Ash was having a battle with a trainer he met in the forest. Brock, May and Max were watching this battle on, and May and Max were both enjoying this. "Beedrill, use Twinneedle!" The trainer said. Beedrill struck Pikachu with one of its large stingers, sending Pikachu dragging the ground briefly.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Pikachu let out a strong bolt of electricity, completely electrifying the Beedrill and causing it to fall out of the air, bruised.

"Come on, Beedrill, get up!" The trainer said. Beedrill was struggling to get up by using its stingers as support, but then it collapsed, defeated.

"Beedrill is unable to battle. Pikachu wins!" Brock said; he had refereeing the match. Ash smiled, and looked down at Pikachu. "All right! That was great, Pikachu!" he smiled. Pikachu smiled, equally happy with his win. The trainer lifted his Beedrill up and Ash ran over to see him.

"How's Beedrill doing?" Ash asked. "Just fine, and I want to thank you for such an incredible battle, Ash." The trainer said. Ash smiled at this, and the two happily shook hands.

"I should be thanking you." Ash said. "I hope we get to battle again sometime." The trainer said. "Me too." Ash agreed. May and Max had been watching the battle the entire time, and both were brightly smiling.

"That battle was awesome, wasn't it, May?" Max asked. May nodded in agreement, and she smiled when she saw Ash run over to them. "That was a great battle, Ash. I hope I get to have a battle like that soon." May said.

"I'm sure you will, May. I'll look forward to watching it when it happens." Ash responded. May smiled, knowing that Ash would be right. Sometime later as they were on their way back on the road, May was still thinking about the battle Ash had earlier.

"Two trainers ending their battle with a warn hand-shake. Now that's true sportsmanship." May commented to herself. "Well, that's what Pokemon battling is really all about: friendship between trainers." Brock explained. Ash immediately ran over to catch up with May, which she noticed quickly.

"That's for sure. If you're not out making friends, what's the point? It always makes the adventure a lot more fun." Ash said. May smiled at this and nodded in agreement. Just then, the two looked down to notice Max had caught up with them.

"I guess I can see that. But you waste a lot of energy in your battling, Ash." Max said. Ash looked down at Max, confused. "What do you mean, Max?" he asked.

"Take the attack you just used. If you used Quick Attack, you would have avoided Twinneedle." Max explained. Ash was confused; he did know Max was trying to help, but he knew how to do things in battling as well.

"What are you talking about? Pikachu might have had a status effect like poisoning if I did that. Sometimes, it's never good to attack head on." Ash explained. Max then looked down, figuring Ash would say something like that.

"Yeah, I know. But I have to remember that you're still in training." Max said, adjusting his glasses. Ash started to get extremely frustrated, which May noticed, and she looked down at her little brother.

"Don't forget, Max, Ash is more experienced than you think he is. You never know what exactly he can do until you see it for yourself." May said, and she looked up at Ash with a smile as she said that. Ash smiled at this and nodded in agreement; that was certainly true. But then, the group looked to notice a bush in front of them shaking. Just then, a giant racoon like Pokemon with zig-zag brown and white skin ran out from the bush while the others watched.

"What's that?" May asked. "It's a Zigzagoon!" Max responded. The group watched as the Zigzagoon dashed away, poking from one bush to another. "Wow! I never knew wild Zigzagoon could get so big!" Max smiled, amazed.

"What do you mean, Max?" May asked, looking down at her little brother. Max then turned to May and started to explain what he was talking about.

"The average Zigzagoon is only 16 inches tall and weighs only 8 pounds." Max said. "That's a lot smaller than that Zigzagoon." Ash commented.

"Well, I'm sure there are a number of reasons for that, like what Zigzagoon eats." Brock said. The giant Zigzagoon noticed a small group of Zigzagoon nearby, but they were a lot smaller.

"Look at that. There's about a large number of them." May commented. "But they're a lot smaller, like normal size." Ash said. He grabbed out his Pokedex to find out more about the Zigzagoon.

"Zigzagoon, the Tiny Racoon Pokemon. Zigzagoon is extremely curious and so ends up walking a zig-zag path between things that interest it." The Pokedex said. The Zigzagoon pack was looking at bushes in front of them, and a Sentret popped up from one of the bushes. There were also Pinsirs hanging on tight to trees above the packs' heads.

"Look at that. Those Zigzagoon are interested in that Sentret and those Pinsirs." Ash commented, as the group looked on at the Zigzagoon pack. Pikachu nodded in agreement; he was seeing this too. The giant Zigzagoon poked its head out from a bush in front of it to notice the pack, and as one turned around to see the giant, it suddenly stood up; it was actually someone in a Zigzagoon outfit. As the small Zigzagoon turned around, the person pulled their outfit off to reveal it was actually a man with green hair wearing a backpack on his back, as well as a red bandana around his neck, a yellow t-shirt, blue shorts and sneakers. The group screamed in surprise, seeing this.

"It disguised itself as a human!" May gasped. "You want to take another look at that, sis? Because it really is a human!" Max retorted, looking up at his sister in annoyance, while Ash and Brock looked over at them as well.

"I didn't know Zigzagoon could evolve into humans." May said. Max started to shake his head in frustration, wondering why May wasn't getting it and asked "Are we really related?" While this was happening, the man was holding out a Pokeball ready to battle the Zigzagoon.

"Okay, Zigzagoon, time for you and I to do some battling!" he said. He was about to throw the Pokeball, but then May and Max came over to him, to which he looked down at them in surprise.

"See, May? 100% genuine human." Max said. May pulled the man's face down to have a closer look, and then she started to smile.

"I guess you're right. He may be a little suspicious looking, but he's definitely all human." May said. Just then, the man noticed that the Zigzagoon were leaving while he was distracted and quickly directed his attention back to them.

"Wait! Zigzagoon, come back!" The man called. After the Zigzagoon were gone, the man sighed in annoyance, and then he looked over at May and Max, upset. "Thanks a lot! This is your fault that I wasn't able to catch that Zigzagoon! What's your problem, anyway?" he asked. But then, he noticed that May's small blue leggings and Max's shorts only went up to their knees, and then he started to smile.

"You guys are wearing knickers too. That's so cool! You're the same as me!" The man smiled. "What?" May and Max asked in unison, confused. Ash and Brock had just caught up, and could hear what was going on.

"What do you mean they're the same as you?" Ash asked. "Who are you, anyway?" May added.

"What's my name? Truthfully, I have many names, like this one!" The man responded, and put the Zigzagoon outfit he was wearing earlier on. The group stared at him in surprise, wondering what was going on. "At times, I'm a Zigzagoon wandering the forest." The man then put on a large jellyfish-like outfit with a blue head with big red pearls on the top with various tentacles hanging down from the bottom. "At other times, I'm a Tentacool riding the ocean waves." He then started to spin rapidly and the Tentacool outfit was replaced with a green outfit with a skirt made out of yellow and green flower petals and two flower buds on each side at the top. "And other times, I'm a dancing Bellossom. But if you want to know what my true identity is, well..." he then took off the Bellossom outfit to reveal his actual clothes and said "I'm Nicolai. Nicolai the Knickerbocker!"

The group were staring confused at him before Ash was the first to ask a question. "What's a Knickerbocker?" he asked. "Yeah, I don't know either." May agreed.

"That's the name for naturalist trainers like myself. We thrive on communing with nature while exposing our knees." Nicolai explained. He then came over to May and Max and bent down to get to their height. "And obviously, you're knickerbockers too. That's awesome! So tell me, what are your names, you guys?" he asked.

"My name's May." May responded. "And my name's Max." Max added.

"My name's Ash. I'm from Pallet Town." Ash said. "And that just leaves me. My name's Brock." Brock added.

"Really nice to meet you, May and Max." Nicolai said, as if he had just completely ignored Ash and Brock all together. Fortunately, this didn't go unnoticed by Ash and Brock, as they both stared confused. "Yes, those are two very worthy names for knickerbockers." Nicolai continued.

"Excuse me, but we're not wearing knickers. There are just plain shorts!" May explained, deciding to set Nicolai straight by this point. "I don't think I want to be called a bocker." Max agreed.

"Now, now, calm down. There's no use getting your knickers in a bundle." Nicolai smiled. He started happily laughing, while May and Max stared at him wondering if he was ever serious. Nicolai's Zigzagoon outfit lay beside him the entire time, before Brock was the first to say something.

"So tell us. Why were you dressed in that Zigzagoon suit?" Brock asked. Nicolai looked up from May and Max to direct his attention to Brock.

"I guess you still don't get it. I wear it to become one with the Pokemon and to learn their inner feelings. As soon as I know exactly the way they think, it's easy to capture them." Nicolai explained.

"So you do that to catch Pokemon?" Ash asked. "Yeah." Nicolai responded as he stood up, and then he continued as he looked in both directions "I want to challenge the Petalburg Gym Leader. But first I want to catch a Zigzagoon; they live right here in this forest."

"The Petalburg Gym, huh?" May asked. "Then you're going to be battling our Dad." Max said. Nicolai immediately looked at May and Max in surprise and asked "Your Dad?"

"May and Max's Dad is the Petalburg Gym Leader, so that's who you'll be up against." Ash explained. Pikachu nodded in agreement; he could tell that was true as well. Nicolai however was completely surprised by this.

"You're kidding me! Hey, I have an idea. I can battle the two of you." Nicolai said. May and Max were both surprised by this, however Nicolai continued. "If you're the children of a real Gym Leader, then I think battling you guys would be great practice for me. Besides that, I'd like to check out your skills as a Trainer." Nicolai explained.

"Maybe you should go check out something else." May commented; she didn't mention it, but she was feeling uncertain about battling just yet, especially since she had just started. However, Max looked up at his sister with a bright smile.

"Don't be modest. Show him, May!" Max said. May looked down at him in surprise, wondering if he was really being serious. "You're the Petalburg Gym Leader's daughter, so go show him what you can do!" Max explained. May nearly jumped from alarm, realizing that Max was serious.

"Then that settles that. There's a field right up ahead. I can't wait to battle, so come on then, let's go!" Nicolai said, and started to walk off ahead of the group. As he was heading off, May suddenly stopped him short.

"Wait a minute, Nicolai! I don't think I'll be able to…" Before May could continue, Nicolai stopped short in his tracks and turned around to see her.

"What's wrong, May? Don't tell me you're afraid to battle with me." Nicolai said. May was annoyed by this, and she didn't want to be seen as an incapable Trainer, even if this was going to be her first battle.

"Me, afraid? Okay, I accept your challenge!" May retorted. Ash was a bit concerned; May did say she was looking forward to having a battle like him, but he was a bit uncertain of whether she would do well.

"May, are you sure about this?" he asked. "Yeah. It'll be good experience for her." Brock responded. Pikachu nodded in agreement; he was looking forward to this too. As the group were on their way down to the field for the battle, Ash could see that May was feeling a bit anxious and ran over to her, to which she turned to notice him beside her.

"So, May, how are you feeling about the battle?" he asked. May didn't respond and looked down in worry, which Ash noticed. "Not really looking forward to it, huh?" he asked. May then looked back up at him and nodded.

"I wanted to tell Nicolai the truth, that I didn't feel like I was ready to battle. But I didn't want him to think I wasn't a good Trainer. I know I said I was looking forward to having a battle, but now I really can't decide anymore." May explained. Ash had some thought to himself about May's dilemma, but then he smiled as he had an idea of what to say and looked back at May.

"May, I was feeling a bit nervous about my first battle as well; it happens to a lot of Trainers when they first start. But, just do your best and if things get a bit tough, I'll make sure to support you." Ash said. May started to smile and nodded.

"Thanks, Ash. You're right. I'll do the best I can!" May smiled. Ash brightly smiled at May's positive shift of attitude and nodded in agreement.

Later, the group came to the field with May and Nicolai standing on opposite sides, Brock refereeing the battle and Ash and Max watching from nearby. _'Okay, I'm in my first battle.' _May thought to herself. She looked over at Ash to see him happily smiling at her, and she smiled back. _'Ash said I should do my best, and that's just what I'm going to do!' _May thought; she was ready to go now. Just then, Nicolai held up a Poke ball; he was ready to battle as well.

"Ready? Here goes!" Nicolai said. _'It's too bad my first battle had to be against such a strange person like him.' _May thought as she looked on at Nicolai's excitement.

"May, try and focus on the battle, okay?" Ash asked. May looked back at him since she heard him say that and nodded in agreement. "Each Trainer will use one Pokemon. The battle will be over when neither one is unable to continue." Brock explained. May and Nicolai both nodded in agreement; they were ready to go.

"Mudkip, I choose you!" Nicolai said, throwing the Poke ball he had holding earlier. It opened, releasing Mudkip. Ash smiled and had his Pokedex out to look at Mudkip.

"Mudkip, the Mud Fish Pokemon. Mudkip uses a sensitive fin on its head to take radar readings of its surroundings." The Pokedex said. To match his Pokemon, Nicolai also put on a Mudkip outfit, with his arms being in where the front legs would be. Ash and Max both stared at him in disbelief and Max's glasses slipped out of their regular place.

May was staring in surprise as well, but then she remembered she needed to bring out her Pokemon as well. She reached into her bag and grabbed out her one Pokeball that had a Pokemon in it. "Let's go, Torchic!" she said, and threw the Poke ball causing it to open and release Torchic.

"Torchic? She's going to use a Fire type against Mudkip, a Water type?" Nicolai asked, surprised. "When you know her first opponent's got a Water type." Max said, feeling concerned by this. Ash wasn't worried however; in fact, he was brightly smiling.

"Yeah, but May can use good strategy to make up for it. That's what Pokemon battling's about." Ash said. Max then crossed his arms and commented "This is May we're dealing with, you know." With this, the battle was ready to begin.

"All right, Torchic, let's go!" May smiled. Torchic nodded in agreement. However, a few seconds passed and Torchic wasn't sure what to do, so she just stood there in silence. May noticed this, completely surprised. "What are you waiting for, Torchic? You need to attack Mudkip!" May said.

"May, you need to tell Torchic what attack to use." Ash explained. He and Pikachu were both honestly surprised that May didn't remember this, especially given how well she and Torchic did when they were up against Arbok when they were in Petalburg City.

"Oh, that's right. I nearly forgot." May said. She had some thought to herself before she smiled and looked down at Torchic. "I got it! Torchic, use Ember!" May called.

"Mudkip, use Water Gun!" Nicolai added. Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak, while Mudkip shot out a strong blast from its mouth. The water ploughed through the blasts of fire easily, and Torchic started to become worried. However, May remembered what she was doing and that meant she was ready.

"That's good, Torchic. Now, let's give them a taste of your Peck attack!" May said. With this, Torchic started to charge towards Mudkip which made Max worried.

"Whatever you do, don't attack it straight on!" Max gasped. As Torchic continued to charge towards Mudkip, Nicolai looked down at his Pokemon.

"Okay, Mudkip, use Water Gun!" Nicolai said. Mudkip released a strong blast of water from its mouth, directly hitting Torchic and sending her down onto the ground. Ash and May were both alarmed, and May immediately ran over to Torchic.

"Torchic, are you okay? Can you get up?" May asked. Torchic struggled to get back up, but then she collapsed, defeated which May was alarmed by.

"Torchic is unable to battle. Mudkip is the winner!" Brock said. Nicolai and Mudkip were both happy that they won. Meanwhile, May was holding Torchic, who was still unconscious, in her arms.

"Torchic, I'm so sorry." May said, sadly. Ash, Brock and Max then came over to her, and Brock bent down to check on Torchic. "Torchic's fine. All it needs is a good long rest." Brock said. But then, the group looked up at Nicolai.

"Unreal! Who knew a Gym Leader's daughter would be so bad? I'll bet getting a badge at the Petalburg Gym will be a piece of cake." Nicolai said. Max was immediately upset by this insult, and took one step forward.

"Take that back!" Max snapped. Ash was annoyed as well, but mainly by the fact that this upset May.

"But first I have to catch a Zigzagoon, and then once I've bagged that little creature, getting my badge will be a walk in the park. So along, my two fellow knickerbockers!" Nicolai said, and started to walk off with Mudkip on his shoulder. Max however was still angry with the fact that Nicolai had insulted his Dad; May was easy, but that didn't mean he had to do that as well. As Nicolai was on his way through the forest, he was unaware that someone was watching him from nearby, and they had their eye on his Mudkip.

"Is that a Mudkip?" Jessie asked, as she, James and Meowth looked through their electronic binoculars from their hiding place nearby in a bush.

"Indeed, it is. And underneath that cute exterior lies a battling brute. We could do a lot worse than to cage one of them, believe me!" James responded. Jessie and Meowth brought their binoculars down from their eyes, just like James had done.

"You know what would happen if we brought the Boss one of them babies? We'd climb the corporate ladder so fast we'd get rumboings!" Meowth commented.

"Right. Stop the lip flap and being Operation: Mudkip Capture!" Jessie said. James and Meowth nodded in agreement, and Wobbuffet suddenly popped out of its Poke ball. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said.

Meanwhile, Ash, May and Brock were continuing their way down the road. May was still feeling upset about her loss, so Ash was walking beside her so she wouldn't feel so bad. "My very first battle and it ends in defeat! And losing to a goofball like him...humiliating." May sighed.

"Forget about it. Remember, May, you're just starting and not to mention your Pokemon was at a disadvantage." Brock explained. May then looked down sadly; that didn't make her feel much better. Ash could tell since he was watching her and then he brightly smiled.

"May, even though your first battle didn't go very well, you're still getting off to a good start. And with a little more experience, things will get much better. You'll see, May." Ash explained. May was listening to Ash the entire time, but she was still thinking about Nicolai.

"Knickerbockers, naturalist. What is wrong with that guy? He makes me so mad, I can't wait until Dad pounds on him! Right, Max?" May asked, as she looked back thinking Max was still following them. But then, she stopped short when she noticed someone wasn't there. Ash and Brock turned around, noticing that May had stopped in her tracks.

"May, what's the matter?" Ash asked. "Max is gone! Max?" May asked, realising Max wasn't there. Ash was confused; he didn't notice Max wasn't following them.

Meanwhile, Nicolai had changed into his Zigzagoon outfit and started to dash off to find some Zigzagoon. Unknown to him, Max was watching him run off behind a tree and poked his head out. "No one makes fun of my Dad and gets away with it!" Max said. Nicolai stopped short, grabbed some fruit from his bad and started to toss it into some bushes around him to try and get some Zigzagoon out. As Max watched this on, he was surprised. "Zigzagoon love that fruit more than anything. He's using it to try and get the Zigzagoon to come out." Max said. He then smiled, getting an idea.

Meanwhile, Ash, May and Brock were another part of the forest looking for Max. "Max?" May asked. "Max, where are you?" Ash asked.

"Answer if you're out there!" Brock called. As Ash looked around, he commented "I don't see how he could have gotten too far away."

"I guess, but then why can't he hear us?" May asked. "Hey, I've got an idea." Ash said. He grabbed one of his Pokeballs out and held it up. "Taillow can search from the sky!"

Max was looking for Zigzagoon; he was holding his T-shirt up and it held several small fruit up. "All this fruit ought to attract every Zigzagoon in the whole forest, and that Knickerbocker won't catch a single one." Max smiled. He then looked up and called "Come on out, Zigzagoon! I've got yummy fruit! Zigzagoon!" As Max was walking, he was unaware that Zigzagoon were watching him from behind, and they had their eye on the fruit. "Guess it won't be long now." Max commented. But then, he stopped short when he noticed that he was surrounded by a large pack of Zigzagoon, and they were surrounding him on all sides.

Taillow was soaring through the air, while Ash, May and Max ran after him. "Taillow stopped something!" Ash said.

"It's Max. It's got to be him!" May added. "We better hurry!" Brock said. With this, the three started to pick up their pace hoping to find Max soon.

Max was alarmed to find himself surrounded by so many Zigzagoon. "What a mess! I didn't realise there were so many of these things. Help!" Max gasped. As the Zigzagoon lunged towards Max, he cried "Help!" Taillow could see this, and so could Ash, May and Brock since they had just arrived to find the large Zigzagoon pack surrounding Max.

"Max!" Brock gasped. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash said, looking over at his little partner on his shoulder. Pikachu jumped into the air and released a strong bolt of electricity which scared the Zigzagoon away. Once they were gone, May immediately ran over to Max.

"You guys found me." Max said. "Are you okay?" Brock asked. Before anything else could be said, the group noticed the Zigzagoon pack was coming back. Pikachu was ready to attack again, but Max ran over stopping them short.

"Hold on! All the Zigzagoon really want are these." Max said. The others turned to notice the berries Max was holding. "They just want to eat all the fruit that I brought them. See?" Max asked.

"They do?" May asked. "In that case, let me take care of this problem." Brock said. He took the berries from Max and ran over to the Zigzagoon, holding the berries out. "Here's some food. There's enough for everybody." Brock said. Just then, one of the Zigzagoon kicked up dirt that nearly got in Brock's eyes.

"Brock, are you okay?" Ash asked, as the others were watching this on. "Yeah, I'm fine. But what are those Zigzagoon so angry about?" Brock asked.

"Maybe because we interrupted them just as they were about to eat." May responded, nervously. "Well, we better do something quick." Ash said, knowing they would be in big trouble if they didn't find a way to calm the Zigzagoon down.

As the Zigzagoon surrounded the group, Ash immediately stepped in front of May to protect both her and Max, which May noticed surprised. "We're sorry. We didn't mean any harm. Really, we didn't!" Ash explained. Pikachu couldn't agree more, as he responded as well. However, the Zigzagoon started to come closer when suddenly Nicolai in his Zigzagoon outfit appeared in front of the group.

"It's Nicolai! And Mudkip, too!" Ash said, recognizing it was them. Speaking in Zigzagoon-like language, Nicolai started to lead the Zigzagoon away from the group and they started to follow him. "The Zigzagoon are following Nicolai." Ash commented.

"Let's find out why." May said, and the group started to run after Nicolai and the Zigzagoon. Nicolai led the Zigzagoon pack to a tree and rammed into it to let fruit drop down from the branches. "Now, Mudkip, Water Gun!" Nicolai said, pointing to a tree nearby. Mudkip started releasing strong blasts of water at various trees, causing the fruit to drop and the Mudkip ran over to eat the fruit. Nicolai pulled the hood of his outfit down with a smile.

"Look! They're all eating the fruit." May smiled. Nicolai turned to notice the group walking over. "That should make them a lot happier." Brock said.

"Thanks, Nicolai. You really helped us out." Ash said. "Think nothing of it. We all need help sometimes, and us knickerbocks have to stick together, you know what I mean?" Nicolai asked. He then looked over at Max and winked at him, asking "Right?" Max then stepped forward, remembering something.

"Nicolai, I owe you an apology." Max said, bowing his head. Nicolai stared at Max in surprise, wondering what he was talking about. A little later, the group were sitting against one of the trees with Nicolai, while Pikachu and Mudkip were having fun with some of the Zigzagoon. Nicolai happily laughed, as he was listening to everything.

"So you were the one with the fruit!" he smiled. "I feel awful. I'm sorry." Max said, looking down in dismay.

"Forget it." Nicolai responded, looking down at Max while Max looked up at him in surprise. "I should be apologizing to you. I shouldn't have said the things I said earlier." Nicolai explained.

"Okay." Max said, looking down. He then asked "Can I ask a question?" Nicolai was surprised, but decided to listen anyway as Max looked up at him. "Where did you learn to speak Zigzagoon so well? I hadn't seen anything about it in any of my books." Max said. Nicolai then started to smile.

"You don't need words to communicate with Pokemon, Max." Nicolai said. Max stared at Nicolai, confused. Nicolai then placed his hand over his heart and said "You just need to say what's in here."

"He's right. Say what's in your heart." Brock agreed. "Let me see. We have to learn these crazy attacks while speaking with our hearts?" May asked, confused. Ash looked over at May with a bright smile and couldn't help himself laughing a bit.

"That's not what Nicolai means, May." Ash said. May then looked over at Ash, wondering what he was talking about. "What he means is we need to understand the Pokemon and their feelings, so we know how to become closer with our Pokemon and become a better team." Ash explained. May then smiled; that made more sense to her.

"Then the Pokemon will understand what we say." Max added. Nicolai nodded his head in agreement. "I'll show you what I mean." Nicolai said. He stood up and pointed to a Zigzagoon in front of him."Zigzagoon! Why don't you have a battle with us?" he asked. Zigzagoon nodded, ready for a battle.

With this, Nicolai changed from his Zigzagoon outfit into his Mudkip outfit ready to battle. "Now, Mudkip, Water Gun!" Nicolai said. Mudkip released a strong blast of water from its mouth. However, Zigzagoon dodged the water attack and ran towards Mudkip, scratching it and sending it flying back a bit.

"Don't you give in, Mudkip!" Nicolai said. Mudkip then got up and started to chase after Zigzagoon, who kept moving out of the way of Mudkip's attempts to charge at it. Ash and the others were watching this battle on, and they were all enjoying it.

"That Mudkip and Zigzagoon are amazing!" May smiled. "Keep it up, you guys!" Max called. Mudkip then jumped up into the air, ready to attack Zigzagoon.

"Are you ready, Mudkip? Water Gun, now!" Nicolai said. Mudkip sent out a strong blast of water from its mouth, directly hitting Zigzagoon and sending it into the air. As the Zigzagoon plummeted to the ground, Nicolai threw one of his Pokeballs. It bounced of the Zigzagoon and opened, capturing the Zigzagoon inside and dropped down to the ground, where it started to shake and its centre was glowing red. As the others and the Zigzagoon pack watched on, the Pokeball stopped and the centre stopped glowing red.

"Yes! I caught me a Zigzagoon!" Nicolai smiled. As Mudkip was happy as well, an extended metal claw suddenly reached down and grabbed Mudkip, rising up in the process. Nicolai looked up to see this, and so did the others as well as they gasped.

"Your Mudkip!" Ash said. They looked up to notice the familiar Meowth balloon complete with the Rocket Trio inside, and Meowth was behind the controls with the metal claw. The three happily laughed as they watched this on.

"I'm sorry. Whose Mudkip did you say it was?" Jessie asked. "Hey! Who do you think you are?" Nicolai asked. Ash and the others immediately ran over to see this, and they could tell almost immediately.

"It's Team Rocket!" Ash responded. As the claw slowly rose to the balloon, Nicolai noticed that Mudkip was trapped inside the claw's grip. "Hey! Give me back my Mudkip!" Nicolai called.

"Not today!" Jessie responded. "I wear full pants, but I'm still a naturalist. I'm just naturally dishonest." James explained. "And though I ain't wearing no pants at all, I'm a natural thief." Meowth agreed, as he brought the claw with Mudkip inside up to the balloon.

"All right, Pikachu, let's Thunderbolt them!" Ash said. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and released a strong bolt of electricity at the balloon. James however pressed a button and a satellite dish came out of the bottom of the balloon and absorbed Pikachu's electricity. The satellite then fired the electricity back at the group, hitting the ground in front of them.

"How's that feel?" Jessie asked. "The shock's on you this time." James commented. "At least we're keeping up with current events." Meowth added. "Later!" The three said in unison, as the balloon floated away.

Not willing to let them get away, Nicolai switched his Mudkip outfit for an outfit that was like a purple monkey with a hand on the end of its tail; he was dressed like an Aipom. Nicolai started to run on all fours up the hill to catch up with the Rocket Trio. "Don't worry, Mudkip! I'm coming!" Nicolai called.

Down below, the Zigzagoon pack was watching on and after looking at each other, they started to dig a large hold while Ash and the others watched on in surprise. "What do you think those Zigzagoon are trying to do?" May asked.

"They understand how Nicolai feels, and I think they want to help Mudkip too." Brock responded. "Wow! Amazing!" Max said as he looked on at this. He then smiled and said "I get it now!"

Meanwhile, Nicolai had just made it to the top of the hill. He then switched his Aipom outfit to a purple bat-like Pokemon with spread out wings; he was dressed as a Gligar now. He then jumped into the air and started to glide after the balloon. When the Rocket Trio turned around to see them, Nicolai snatched the cage from them, which they noticed almost immediately.

"You're safe now, Mudkip. Are you okay?" Nicolai asked, as he glided through the air holding the cage that had Mudkip inside. Mudkip happily agreed, but the Rocket Trio were annoyed. "No fair! Give us back our Mudkip!" The three yelled in unison.

"No way! All right, Taillow, use Peck!" Ash said, and threw one of his Pokeballs. It opened, releasing Taillow, and Taillow flew up to the balloon. After a few pecks, Taillow punctured a hole in the balloon, sending the Rocket Trio down to the ground. As the dust cleared, the Trio noticed that they had landed right into a pitfall trap and the Zigzagoon were looking on at them.

"It's a pitfall trap." May commented. "That's what the Zigzagoon were doing before using Dig." Max agreed.

"Hold it! I'll have you know we have the copyright on pitfall traps, young man." Jessie explained. "And you're looking at a lawsuit!" James added. "Criminals!" Meowth said. The three then started to climb out of the hole.

"Remind me to call my lawyer." Jessie said. But then, they looked up to notice Ash and Pikachu come over to them.

"Team Rocket, you're not going anywhere!" Ash said. Pikachu nodded in agreement, and Taillow flew over behind the two.

"Just watch us." Jessie responded, and she and James sent out their powerhouses, Arbok and Weezing. "Okay, Arbok, Poison Sting!" Jessie said. "Weezing, give them a Sludge attack!" James added.

Arbok and Weezing sent out purple stingers and purple sludge from their mouths, respectively. "Now, Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash said. Pikachu started to run towards Arbok and Weezing, dodging both of their attacks at the same time, and charged into them sending them flying into Jessie and James.

Nicolai had just come back from having gotten Mudkip out of the cage and was surprised to see this. "Now, Pikachu, Thunder!" Ash called. Pikachu released a strong blast of electricity, completely shocking the Trio and sending them flying into the sky, and they disappeared in a flash.

"Yeah! We did it!" May and Max cheered in unison. The Zigzagoon pack was happy as well, as they were all smiling. "Looks like everything's okay again." Brock said. Ash nodded, as he couldn't agree more.

"Ash!" Nicolai called. Ash turned around to see Nicolai walking over to him with Mudkip on his shoulder. "That sure was some pretty slick battling for someone who doesn't even wear knickers." Nicolai commented.

"Thanks, Nicolai. I just wish I went that well when I battled the Petalburg Gym's Gym Leader." Ash responded. "Come on! A Trainer as you couldn't even beat that gym leader? Maybe it won't be so easy after all." Nicolai said, crossing his arms.

"That's right. You won't win any badges there without a strong fight." May agreed. "My sister's pretty lame, but my Dad is some tough stuff." Max smiled, crossing his arms. May stared at Max, and then turned around to him.

"I might not be that good now, but just you wait and see, Max. I'll become a better Trainer before you know it!" May retorted. Ash smiled, impressed by May's new determination; it certainly sounded like she was going to do her best now.

"I see. Well, in that case..." Nicolai said, He then looked over at Ash and asked "How would you like to have a battle with me, Ash?"

"You bet! I was hoping you'd ask." Ash responded. Sometime later, Nicolai switched into his Zigzagoon outfit.

"Let's make it a great first battle, Zigzagoon! Let's go!" Nicolai said. Zigzagoon then started to charge, ready to battle.

"It's our first battle too, Taillow, so let's do it!" Ash said. Taillow and Zigzagoon then started to charge towards each other, ready for a tough battle.

"Zigzagoon, use Tackle!" Nicolai called. As Zigzagoon started to charge towards Taillow, Ash called "All right, Taillow, let's dodge it!" Taillow then flew into the air, avoiding Zigzagoon's attack and this caused Zigzagoon to start chasing after him. Brock, May and Max were watching this battle on like last time.

"How cool! So both of them are fighting with new Pokemon. It's almost as if they're having a battle for the very first time, huh?" Max asked. "Guess that everyone still has a lot to learn, huh?" May asked, agreeing with Max. Pikachu and Mudkip were watching the battle on as well, and were cheering for their respective Trainer.

As the battle continued, with Ash and Nicolai giving it their best, the others were watching this on. Max was happily smiling with his eyes brightened up, and May was watching this as well; there was a lot to learn, but she knew everyone was going to do their best.


	6. A Poached Ego!

**Advanceshipping: Advanced**

**Chapter 6: A Poached Ego!**

As Ash, May, Max and Brock were on their way down the road to Rustboro City, Max was looking at the Pokenav to see where they could find the nearest Pokemon Centre. May was lagging behind because she was exhausted from the walking they had done. "I'm not happy!" May complained. Ash, Max and Brock turned to notice her lagging from the rest of them.

"May, we just finished having a break." Ash said. "Pika!" Pikachu agreed. May then collapsed, with her legs dragged on either side of her.

"I wouldn't call that a break." May responded. "Well, I guess that means we'll have to take another one, then." Ash said, scratching the back of his head. He then walked over to May and offered her his hand to help her up, which she looked up in surprise to see.

"I don't want you feeling down, though." Ash added. May smiled at this, and she took Ash's hand to which he pulled her up so she was standing up.

"Thanks, Ash." May said. The two continued to hold hands while they smiled at each other. Max looked down at his Pokenav to notice a Pokemon Centre icon not far from where they were; where the group were shown with a glowing blue dot.

"Look! There's a Pokemon Centre up ahead." Max said. Brock then started to smile, and Ash and May followed suit, letting go of each other in the process.

"There is? Really?" May asked. Ash was happy about this as well, but jumped out of the way as Brock immediately ran over, grabbing May's hand. "In that case, May, off we go, then!" Brock said, turning around and trying to drag May along with him. Ash crossed his arms, annoyed at Brock and May started to try and pull her hand back.

"Let go, you're hurting my arm!" May said. But as she pulled her arm back, she accidently stumbled backwards and landed against the back of a tree. She then turned around and looked down to notice something sticking out of the tree. "What's that?" she asked. Ash ran over to see if May was all right, and looked down with her to see what she was talking about.

"There's something weird sticking out of this tree." May commented. Sure enough, Ash noticed with her that there was a torn part of a net stuck in the tree. "Yeah, you're right." Ash agreed.

The group then looked up to notice that there were scratches and parts of torn bark on the trees around them. "Something sure happened here." May said as the group looked at the torn trees.

"Maybe a Pokemon battle?" Max suggested. "I guess." Ash responded. He then looked down at the torn part of the net and wondered "But, who'd use this in a Pokemon battle?"

Soon, the group arrived at the Pokemon centre. "Hello?" May asked, as the four looked around. Just then, Nurse Joy came over from the counter. "Welcome to my Pokemon centre." she said, happily smiling.

"Nurse Joy!" Brock smiled, smitten. But then, May suddenly pushed him aside to see Nurse Joy. "Hi there. Did they transfer you from Oldale Town, Nurse Joy?" May asked. Ash was a bit confused; he could tell that it was a different Nurse Joy, but he figured that May hadn't learned about that yet. Nurse Joy was confused as well, wondering what May was talking about.

"It's May, remember? You really helped us out at the Pokemon Centre back there." May explained. "Well, I don't know how that's possible seeing how I've never met any of you before." Nurse Joy responded.

"Never? But you're Nurse Joy, right?" May asked. Deciding to help, Ash gently pulled May back so he could explain something. "Ash, what's going on? How come Nurse Joy doesn't know me?" May asked.

"May, every Nurse Joy at a Pokemon Centre is a different person. But they're all related and have the same name." Ash explained. May was surprised, and then she looked back at Nurse Joy to confirm this.

"That's right. The Nurse Joy you know in Oldale Town is my older sister." Nurse Joy said. May was surprised by this, and then she looked back at Ash. "That's true?" she asked. Ash nodded in agreement.

"It's the truth, May. Cross my heart and swear on my Trainer's honour." Ash responded, as he drew an x with his finger across his chest where his heart would be to let May know he wasn't lying. While they were talking, Brock was sitting in the corner with waterfalls of tears streaming down from his eyes.

"It's so not fair. I didn't even get a chance to talk to her this time!" Brock complained, upset. "May, this will convince you as well." Max said, as he held up his guidebook for May to see. May looked at it, and was surprised to see a photo with several Nurse Joys.

"Each Pokemon Centre is run by a Nurse Joy, and they look exactly alike." Max explained. "That's what I was telling May. You didn't need to remind her, Max." Ash responded, trying not to get irritated.

"Please!" Surprised, the three turned to Brock who had stood up next to Nurse Joy. "All of you are so naïve. Nurse Joy's uniqueness is easily seen." Brock explained, and he took Nurse Joy's hands much to her surprise. "It's completely obvious. I can tell the difference. Your bangs are a millimetre longer." Brock explained. Nurse Joy stared in silence, but then she smiled nervously.

"Brock, you're amazing!" Ash smiled. "You're something else." Max commented. "He's something else, all right." May agreed, even though she was a bit confused.

"Nurse Joy!" Ash, May and Max turned around to notice a woman in an official police outfit with a Growlithe beside her. "Well, look who it is. Officer Jenny!" Nurse Joy said, recognizing her almost immediately.

"Not you too!" Brock smiled, completely smitten once again. He then ran over, which Officer Jenny was surprised by. "Well, hello there. I see your eyelashes are one tenth of an inch longer than any other Jenny in the country." Brock commented.

"They are?" Officer Jenny asked. But then she smiled nervously as she agreed. "Don't tell me. There's a lot of Officer Jennies as well, isn't there?" May asked as the others watched this on. Max then held up the guidebook to show her that sure enough, there was a photo with a lot of Officer Jennies together.

"I told you not to tell me!" May said. "Well, I can tell the difference and I can tell you how." Brock responded. Officer Jenny then directed her attention from Brock to Nurse Joy, which he noticed immediately.

"Anyway, Nurse Joy, I need to find out if any injured Pokemon have been brought to your centre recently." Officer Jenny explained. While she was talking, Brock looked down and sighed, upset that his time had been interrupted.

"No. Why do you ask?" Nurse Joy asked. "There have been reports of a poacher operating right in this area." Officer Jenny responded. Brock immediately stood up, since he had been sitting in the corner yet again, and everyone's eyes almost went tiny at the sound of that.

"A poacher?!" Ash, May and Max asked in unison. Officer Jenny then held up a wanted poster showing a man with green hair and wearing a dark red jacket. The man was evidently dangerous, since the wanted heading was in black capital letters.

"Based on his methods, I would say it's this Pokemon hunter, Rico. He thinks nothing of entering Pokemon in order to catch them." Officer Jenny explained. Ash then suddenly remembered something and showed Officer Jenny the torn part of the net he and the others found on their way to the Pokemon Centre.

"We found this on our way here." Ash said. Officer Jenny took the net part and looked at it. After a few seconds, she then looked down at Ash. "Where did you find this?" she asked.

"It was in the forest stuck in a tree." Ash responded. "You have to show me where!" Officer Jenny said. Ash nodded in agreement. "It was this way." he responded and he and the others were on their way out of the Centre with Officer Jenny following them.

Outside of the Pokemon Centre nearby, Jessie, James and Meowth were looking through their binoculars to see the Centre. Jessie was happily laughing to herself, and then the Rocket Trio brought their binoculars down from their eyes. "So, the twerps stopped in the Pokemon Centre? Good." Jessie smiled.

"Now it's time to set a trap, right?" James asked, as he and Jessie looked at each other. "But what kind?" Jessie asked, as she was looking forward to this phase in their plans.

"How about our tried and true pitfall?" James suggested. Meowth had been listening to this and his eyes decreased in size at the mention of their pitfall traps, so he immediately pointed upwards.

"No! Can't we be more original?" Meowth asked, as Jessie and James both looked down at him. "So, you've got a better idea?" Jessie asked. Meowth then smiled and he placed his hand against his chin, as if he was thinking.

"Look, we're working on climbing up the corporate ladder, right?" Meowth asked. He then turned around with his finger pointed up to the air and started to walk away while Jessie and James watched him on. "So, therefore we've got to start thinking of more creative and inspired things than digging holes." Meowth explained. Unfortunately, since he had his eyes closed, Meowth wasn't watching where he was going, and that meant he couldn't see that he was walking right to the edge of the cliff. He then only noticed as he fell off and started to scream while Jessie and James watched on in alarm.

"Meowth!" James gasped. Meowth tumbled down the end of the cliff and landed on the ground on his face. As he got up rubbing his face off, Meowth looked up to notice a camouflage sheet and he could hear what sounded like hissing coming from inside it.

"Hey, that's weird. Something's inside of there." Meowth commented. He pulled the camouflage sheet back to reveal a giant steel cage with Ekans locked inside; they all looked badly bruised. "Ekans; a cage full of them!" Meowth gasped. He walked over to the cage and looked up at the bruised Ekans. "What are you guys doing in here?" he asked. As the Ekans responded, Meowth could understand what they were saying.

"What? You're telling me you were captured by some poachers?" Meowth asked. The Ekans nodded in agreement, and then Meowth smiled as he had an idea. "Hey, I'm going to get youse out!" Meowth said. But as he touched the bars, he was suddenly electrocuted causing him to scream. After the electrocution stopped, Meowth stumbled backwards and then fell over.

"Man, that hurt." Meowth commented. Just then, he could hear Jessie and James call his name. "Hey, Meowth!" He then looked up to notice them coming down the ledge with Jessie riding on Arbok and James being carried by Weezing.

"Here we come! Stand by!" Jessie smiled. "Pokemon express!" James added. When they arrived at the bottom, they were looking at the cage of Ekans, and Meowth had told them about what happened.

"Oh, I get it." Jessie said. "Those poor Ekans were pilfered by some lowly poachers." James continued, as they looked at the Ekans that were trapped inside. Arbok looked on in dismay, since she could remember being an Ekans herself.

"And they've been zapped pretty badly from the electricity in that cage." Meowth added. "Of all the amateur poaching antics, what kind of idiots would injure their own Pokemon?" Jessie asked. While she was asking that question, James looked over at her.

"Sickening! And if that's not bad enough, they leave the cage out in the open." James agreed, as he looked back over at the cage. Meowth then looked up at the two, having an idea. "You know, we could take these Ekans for ourselves." he suggested. Jessie and James both looked down at him with bright smiles; they liked the sound of that.

"I like your thinking." Jessie smiled. "Yes. Our first catch in the Hoenn Region, without even breaking a sweat!" James agreed. Jessie then looked at Arbok, ready to get started.

"So, Arbok, use Acid!" Jessie said. However, Arbok was still looking at the injured Ekans and its eyes had gone huge from sadness. "Hey, Arbok, what has gotten into you?" Jessie asked, as she and the others looked on at Arbok. Arbok then looked down and tears started to stream out of its eyes.

"I know what." James commented, as his expression saddened watching this on. "Arbok used to be an Ekans before it evolved." Meowth said. James then looked back at the cage of Ekans with his continued saddened expression.

"And it doesn't want them to be hurt any worse." James added. He was definitely right, since the Ekans had been badly bruised. Jessie then looked back at Arbok with a smile.

"Dear Arbok, we won't harm a scale on your friends' slippery heads, I promise." Jessie explained. Arbok looked up at Jessie with its tear filled eyes, wanting to know if she was telling the truth. "Cross my heart, on my Team Rocket honour." Jessie responded. Arbok's eyes went huge again, extremely happy to hear that.

"Jess, what honour?" James asked. "Yeah, what have you got up that sleeve, anyway?" Meowth asked. "We're sitting on an Ekans gold mine." Jessie responded. She then smiled and clenched her fists as she knew exactly what she had in mind for this trio.

"We'll create the biggest, baddest Ekans army this world has ever seen!" Jessie smiled. "But they'd have to eat." James commented. Meowth brought his calculator out and started to punch some numbers into it.

"Feeding those guys would break the bank." Meowth said. Jessie then crossed her arms with a smug smile on her face. "You two will just have to cut back on a few meals, then." she responded. James and Meowth immediately screamed at the mention of that, and Wobbuffet popped out of its Pokeball to blurt out its usual "Wobbuffet!"

"Now, Arbok, Acid!" Jessie called. Arbok released a stream of purple acid from its mouth at the bars in an attempt to melt them. However, the acid slid off the bars leaving them completely intact, which the Rocket Trio gasped to see.

"It didn't do a thing!" Meowth noticed. "So, watch and learn! Weezing, use Sludge Attack, go!" James called. Weezing started to charge towards the cage ready to attack, but just then, almost out of nowhere, a giant bird Pokemon with long brown wings and a long pink beak to match charged straight into Weezing, and the Trio gasped to see this.

As the Bird Pokemon, Fearow, drifted in the air, a large grey tow car with a cage behind it stopped in front of the Rocket Trio, and a man with green hair wearing a red t-shirt with orange sleeves, brown gloves and grey long shorts with black boots stepped out of the tow car with his arms crossed as he faced the Trio.

"All right, you clowns. Who do you think you are messing with my property?" he asked. The man was the Pokemon poacher, Rico. After the Trio gave their response, in the form of their motto, no less, Rico was still unconvinced. "Let's try this again. What do you think you're doing with my Pokemon?" Rico asked.

"Stealing them, of course." Jessie responded. "We're creating the world's largest Ekans army." James added. But then they could hear Weezing starting to cry and turned to notice that its eyes had watered up as well; behind the tow car was another cage, and Rico smiled as he turned to look at the cage.

"You don't know who you're dealing with." Rico said. Inside the cage was a large group of Koffing, and they had been badly bruised as well. The Rocket Trio gasped, seeing that cage too. "He also got a cage load of Koffing!" Meowth noticed, staring at the cage.

"I'm Rico. I'm a Pokemon Hunter. Per my client's wishes, I'm poaching as many poison Pokemon as I can." Rico said, with his arms crossed all the while.

"You're off to a good start, Rico." James commented. "That's why you caught Ekans and Koffing." Meowth added, as he could put two and two together almost immediately.

"And here you come, waltzing in trying to poach from a poacher? I'll go easy on you jokers, though. Just give me your Arbok and Weezing and I'll let you go in one piece." Rico explained. Jessie and James were both shocked at the sound of that; this guy wanted their Pokemon as well?

"The nerve!" Jessie gasped. "You want our Pokemon?" James asked. "That's what I said. There's an extra bonus in it for me for every evolved Pokemon I can catch." Rico responded.

"Catch them elsewhere! Arbok and I have been together for too long for me to give it to you, buster." Jessie retorted. "And Weezing and I are like brothers." James added, pointing to himself as he was clearly referring to himself and Weezing. Rico then gave a sinister smile, which meant that he was going to get serious now.

"Fine, so be it. Then I guess I'll have to be taking them." Rico responded. The Rocket Trio braced themselves, ready to take on this guy.

"Yeah? Fat chance!" Jessie retorted. "Just try it!" James added. "Now it's you not knowing who you're dealing with." Meowth commented. Weezing and Arbok then popped up, ready to battle as well.

"Fearow! Go, Agility!" Rico called. Fearow started to charge, ready to battle. "Poison Sting, Arbok!" Jessie said. Arbok shot poisonous spikes from its mouth at Fearow.

"Weezing, Sludge attack, now!" James added. Weezing then shot a long stream of purple sludge from its mouth at Fearow as well. "Dodge, and then use Fury Attack!" Rico called. Fearow flew out of the way of not only the poisonous shots, but also the purple sludge and then pecked Arbok and Weezing repeatedly. This sent Arbok and Weezing flying straight back into the Rocket Trio and after the dust cleared, everyone was bruised all over.

"What happened?" Meowth asked. "Now, Fearow, Drill Peck!" Rico said. Fearow started to charge forward ready to attack, but the Rocket Trio weren't done yet.

"Arbok, Wrap attack, now!" Jessie said. Arbok then wrapped its long tail around Fearow's beak, stopping it from attacking. "And that's a wrap!" Jessie smiled, delighted with the success. Rico then returned Fearow to its Pokeball, which meant that Arbok wasn't holding its beak in its tail anymore, which its eyes went tiny to notice.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Meowth commented. "Go, Pupitar! Sandstorm!" Rico said, as he threw a second Pokeball and a Pokemon encased in a thick shell of grayish-blue rock came out. Pupitar then shook for a few seconds and then released sand tornados from its sides and one of them trapped the Rocket Trio, sending them and their Pokemon flying into the air. After they were gone, Rico looked on with his arms crossed.

"Those Pokemon were so weak, they weren't even worth catching." Rico said. The injured Ekans and Koffing watched on from their cages, and the Koffings' eyes had started to water up with tears. Meanwhile, Ash and the others had arrived with Officer Jenny at the place where they had found the net part.

"We found it right here." May said, as she pointed to the scratched tree that the net part was stuck in. "Poachers use captures nets to immobilize Pokemon before they catch them." Officer Jenny explained.

"I wonder if it hurts them." Ash said, though he was mainly saying that to himself than he was to Officer Jenny; he really couldn't imagine anyone like that doing things like that to Pokemon. The thought of it made him sick in his stomach, and for really good reason. Max then turned around to notice something in the ground.

"Hey, look at that!" he said. The others then turned with him to notice that there were tire tracks left behind on the ground. "There's tire tracks." Max commented, as he pointed down.

"The poachers must be travelling by car; they're still fresh." Officer Jenny said. "They couldn't have gotten very far from here." Brock added. Ash then had an idea and grabbed out one of his Pokeballs.

"We'll search from the sky!" he said. Nearby, the Rocket Trio were recovering from their rough landing. Meowth was looking down at his tail, which had been heavily bruised at the top.

"Oh, my aching tail! There's more painful than landing on your tailbone." Meowth sighed. The rest of the Trio weren't badly injured, but they all had leaves stuck on them since they had tumbled down from the trees during their landing.

"I really hate men like that. I'm going to tear him and his overblown ego limb from limb!" Jessie snapped. "If he was a real tough guy, he wouldn't have to hide behind his Pupitar. This calls for a real Team Rocket sting operation." James added. "Wobba!" Wobbuffet agreed, giving its regular salute. But then, the Trio looked up to notice that yellow cocoon-like bug Pokemon, Kakuna and Beedrill were eyeing them.

"What's going on here? This is not the kind of sting operation we meant!" Jessie gasped. The Beedrill started to charge, causing the Rocket Trio to make a run for it.

"We'll show ourselves out!" The Trio said to unison, with their Pokemon following right behind them. In the bushes up ahead, a little green ball-shaped Pokemon with two long arms and covered with small dark green spikes and a yellow crown-shaped figure on the top of its head was hopping out of the bushes when it turned to notice this chase taking place.

"Out of the way, you little pincushion!" Jessie called. "We're about to become one ourselves!" James added. "So, scram!" Meowth warned. The little Pokemon didn't move; instead, it fired several white shots from the spikes on its arms at the Beedrill causing them to flee, which the Rocket Trio were surprised to notice. As they watched the Beedrill leave, they then sighed in relief.

"That was close." Meowth commented. The little Pokemon then hopped towards them, and the Rocket Trio turned to notice it. "Hey, it's a Cacnea." Meowth said, since he could recognize it almost straight away.

"Thanks. You really saved our skins." James smiled. "I say we head that poacher off now and get the Ekans and Koffing." Jessie said, as she looked over at James. James's smile then faded as he looked back at her.

"But head him where, Jess? He's probably gone by now." James responded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Jessie agreed, as her smile faded similarly. Arbok then had an idea, and it placed itself down on the ground while the Trio watched on.

"What is it doing, Meowth?" Jessie asked. "Arbok can pick up on some waves from the earth and tell us where that poacher's gone." Meowth responded. Jessie then started to smile as she got the idea.

"Well!" she commented. Cacnea suddenly hopped over to the Trio, and they turned to notice it. "Oh yes, we haven't probably thanked you." James said, as he reached into his back pocket to get something. He then bent down to Cacnea and showed a packet of biscuits. "A token of our gratitude." he added. Cacnea then took the biscuit packet and stared at it in silence. Just then, Arbok got up.

"Hey, Arbok just said that it heard a car." Meowth said. "Good; I'm sure it's that poacher." Jessie said, and she and Meowth started to head off with their Pokemon following them. James then started to run after them, but not before calling to Cacnea "Toodle-loo!" Cacnea watched them leave while still holding the biscuit packet.

Meanwhile, Taillow was soaring through the sky when he looked down to notice Rico driving in his car with the cages in tow behind him. Realizing it was the right person, Taillow then flew back to find Ash and the others. Not too far behind, Ash and the group were running off ahead when they looked up to see Taillow flying back to them.

"Taillow, did you see the poacher yet?" Ash asked. Taillow nodded in agreement. "Then take us to him, right away!" Officer Jenny responded.

Rico was driving his car with Fearow in the seat beside him and the cage in tow when he noticed that up ahead was a large amount of dirt was rising and Arbok showed itself once the dust cleared. Rico then stopped the car shot and jumped out holding his net gun. "You must be that same Arbok. You've saved me some trouble." Rico said. He then held up his net gun and added "Now don't you move."

Just then, a large amount of green smoke appeared in front of Rico, making him unable to see. He then turned to notice that it was coming from Weezing, with Jessie and James right beside it. "Hello." Jessie said. "Do you remember us?" James asked. The Ekans and Koffing that were inside the cage smiled, knowing that they were going to be rescued soon.

"You bet." Rico responded. He then turned to Fearow and said "Now, Fearow, blow that smokescreen away." Fearow then drifted into the air and started flapping its wings rapidly, blowing the smoke away to reveal Meowth being electrocuted by the bars while he was trying to unlock the cage door.

"How dare you!" Rico growled, noticing this. Meowth was still being electrocuted, but he didn't feel any pain. "This electricity is nothing compared to Pikachu's Thunderbolt attacks on youse two." Meowth said. The Koffing and Ekans were watching on from inside their cage, hoping that Meowth could get them out. Rico then looked over at Fearow, not about to let that happen anytime soon.

"Fearow, use your Drill Peck on Meowth." Rico said. Fearow then jumped out of the car and started to head towards Meowth to attack. But, Jessie quickly noticed and had enough time to react.

"Go, Arbok, Headbutt!" she said. Arbok charged towards Fearow and rammed straight into it, sending it flying towards the cage bars and causing it to get electrocuted. "No, Fearow!" Rico gasped as he watched this on.

"How shocking, isn't it?" Jessie asked, with a bright smile on her face. "You bad poacher man, you." James added. Fearow then dropped down to the ground knocked out while Meowth was able to get the door unlocked.

"All right guys, out of the cage quick!" Meowth said, as he held the door open. All of the Koffing and Ekans started to escape from the cage, but Rico took notice of this and held his net gun up.

"No, you don't!" he retorted. But then, Arbok and Weezing fought back with their respective attacks of poisonous shots and purple sludge, knocking the net gun out of Rico's hand and sending him flying backwards. Jessie then started happily laughing, seeing that they had the upper hand.

"You've poached your last Pokemon, paly!" James said. "And now those Ekans and Koffing will be coming with us." Meowth added, as the Trio had their arms to show that they meant business now.

"You've done it now! I'm so angry, you've left me no choice!" Rico yelled, and then he threw one of his Pokeballs sending Pupitar out. But then, Pupitar started glowing white and the Trio didn't like what that meant, as James gasped from alarm.

"Oh, no." Jessie said. "It can't be!" Meowth cried. Sure enough, Pupitar started to show long legs and its hard shell was being replace by long neck with many sharp ends to it. Rico then smile to himself, seeing this.

"Perfect; I knew it was ready to evolve." he said. One of the feet slammed down hard on the ground, and the giant Pokemon with dark green skin with black parts along its legs and blue steel in the centre let out a loud roar; it was a Tyranitar.

"Pupitar…" Meowth said. Jessie and James both started shaking nervously as they held each other's hands tight. "Evolved to Tyranitar!" Both finished in unison. Wobbuffet popped out of its Pokeball to blurt out its usual "Wobbuffet!", but this time it was terrified beyond belief by the large Pokemon in front of them.

As the towering mass stood before them, the Rocket Trio stared at the new menace. "Wow, that's a big one!" Meowth commented, doing his best not to shake in terror. "Big deal." Jessie responded. "Now, Weezing, Smokescreen!" James said. Weezing started to send out green smoke from its mouth and it caused Rico and Tyranitar to be unable to see. The Trio then started to smile, seeing this.

"That showed him." Jessie said. Meowth then turned to the Ekans and Koffing and said "Now, run for it!" The Ekans and Koffing nodded in agreement, and they started to make their escape

"No, you don't! Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!" Rico called. Tyranitar then started to charge up a strong blast of orange energy and fired it, stopping the Ekans and Koffing in their tracks. After the smoke cleared, the Rocket Trio could see that they and everyone else had been backed up against the edge of the cliff.

"Well, glad you decided to stay." The Trio then turned to notice Rico with his Tyranitar beside him. "I'll be taking back my Ekans and Koffing, along with all your other Pokemon." Rico said. Arbok and Weezing then braced themselves, ready for battle again.

"I know just how to handle men like this." Jessie said, causing James and Meowth to look over at her in surprise. "Tell me, please." James responded. Jessie then crossed her arms with a smug smile.

"A simple Hyper Beam or two ought to teach him a lesson quick. Okay, Wobbuffet, go." Jessie said, as she looked over at Wobbuffet winking. James and Meowth then started to smile, getting the idea.

"Oh, yeah." James said. "Better yet, you could use Counter." Meowth added. Wobbuffet then gave off its regular salute, ready to withstand whatever attack Rico threw at them.

"Hyper Beam!" Rico called. Tyranitar then build up a strong blast of energy and fired it from its mouth. Wobbuffet then jumped in ready to counter, but as soon the Hyper Beam hit, the Rocket Trio gasped in horror to see that Wobbuffet had been knocked out in an instant.

"Wobbuffet!" Jessie gasped. "Looks like its Counter attack failed." James commented. "That Hyper Beam came out so fast it didn't even have time to do one." Meowth said, as the Rocket Trio looked up to see Tyranitar was storing up yet another blast of energy. Tyranitar then fired it, hitting the Rocket Trio directly and sending a large puff of black smoke up into the air.

Nearby, Ash could see it where his group was and he looked up. "What was that?" he asked. "I bet it's that poacher again." Max responded, as he was adjusting his glasses.

"Let's head over in that direction." Brock said. With this, the group started to make their way. After the smoke cleared, it could be seen that quite a few trees had been broken down, there were holes in the ground and the Rocket Trio had been badly bruised, and then they looked up to see Rico.

"You fools, this wouldn't have happened if you handed over your Pokemon nicely. But now it's too late for that. So I'm going to take those Pokemon and destroy you." Rico said. Jessie, James and Meowth looked over at Arbok, Weezing and the Ekans and Koffing. They were all bruised, but Arbok and Weezing were still ready to go. The Rocket Trio looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, and then they nodded; this was going to be a tough thing for them to do, but they had to take the risk. So they stood up and looked over at the Pokemon group.

"Now Arbok, take your friends and get out of here." Jessie said. "You too, Weezing." James added. Arbok and Weezing nearly jumped at the sound of that command.

"We know you're strong, but you're no match for Tyranitar." Jessie explained. Arbok and Weezing immediately shook their heads; they didn't want to leave, and for extremely good reason at that. "Listen." James said simply, causing the two to look at them again.

"You're better safe than sorry." He then looked over at Rico. "Truth is, we just care too much to allow you to be captured by someone like him, see?" He and Jessie then looked back at their loyal partners.

"Besides, all of those other Ekans and Koffing need you to help them right now." Jessie continued. Arbok and Weezing then looked at the two groups, and they knew that was true; those groups needed someone to protect them and help them. "Now, go." Jessie added, causing Arbok and Weezing to look at the Trio again.

"We're strong enough to take care of ourselves." James said. "So, youse guys get out of here and you don't look back." Meowth added. Arbok and Weezing were still in stunned silence for a few seconds. They looked at each other, and then they immediately started to shake their heads; they really didn't want to leave. They had been beside the Trio ever since they were just Ekans and Koffing themselves, and they didn't want to probably never see them again.

"Why drag this out?!" Jessie asked. "Just leave now." James said simply; this was getting harder for them to do even when they were doing their best not to show it. Arbok and Weezing stared for a few seconds, and then they looked at each other and started to lead the Ekans and Koffing away while the Trio watched on.

"Idiots." The Rocket Trio then turned to notice they still had Rico to deal with. "They're not going anywhere. Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!" Rico called. Tyranitar started to charge another strong blast of energy, but then Meowth jumped in to interfere.

"Fury Swipes!" he said, and immediately slashed at Tyranitar's forehead with his claws. "And that's an introduction." Meowth added, but then he was alarmed to see Tyranitar open its eyes again. Tyranitar then charged another blast of energy again and the impact could be heard by Arbok and Weezing, who turned to witness this.

"Don't look back!" James called. "Keep going!" Jessie added. Tyranitar then started towards them ready to attack again.

"It's time for more Fury Swipes." Meowth said, as he was ready to attack again. "Try my Fury Swipes!" Jessie said, as she was jumping in as well. "And try mine too!" James agreed, jumping in to attack too.

Arbok and Weezing, along with the groups of Ekans and Koffing, could see this battle from where they were. The Trio were getting heavily beaten by Tyranitar, but they were still fighting on just to give Arbok and Weezing time to escape. As Arbok and Weezing watched this on, they had to restrain themselves from crying as they watched the ones who had battled alongside them for so long, the ones who had always been there for them and taken great care of them for so long as they had get brutally beaten by Tyranitar just so they could escape. And as tears streamed out of their eyes, Arbok and Weezing led the two groups away without looking back like they were told to.

After the dust from the harsh battle cleared, the Rocket Trio lay unconscious with bruises all over their bodies and Rico returned Tyranitar to its Pokeball. "These three are more than they're worth. At least those Pokemon are mine." Rico said, as he got out his net gun. But as he starting to walk away, he then turned the Rocket Trio holding him back by his legs.

"We are not through!" James said. "This ain't over yet." Meowth commented. "We'll show you! There's still fight in us!" Jessie added. Rico then gave a grin as he looked at the three.

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, and he pulled his legs free of their grasp and started to walk away.

"Come back here!" Jessie called as the Trio watched him leave. "Big bully!" James added. Rico then headed further into the forest, hoping to find the group of poison Pokemon.

"Now where did they go?" he asked, as he looked around. "Now when I find…" Before he could continue, he heard a Growlithe's bark and then turned to notice Ash and his group; they had finally caught up with him.

"So you're Rico, the Pokemon Hunter. You're under arrest for Pokemon poaching!" Officer Jenny said. "Is that so, Officer?" Rico asked. He then threw one of his Pokeballs sending Fearow out.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash called. Pikachu released a strong bolt of electricity from his cheeks, effectively electrocuting Fearow and sending it down to the ground in one shot.

"What? Fearow, no!" Rico gasped. He then grabbed out his other Pokeball. "Then, I'll use Tyranitar!"

"Growlithe, seize all of his Pokeballs now!" Officer Jenny said. Growlithe lunged forward and grabbed all of Rico's Pokeballs in its mouth.

"All right!" Max smiled. "Bullseye!" Brock added. Officer Jenny then ran over to Rico. "Now, Rico, release all of the Pokemon you caught." she said.

"You're a little late for that, Officer. They already escaped, thanks to a bunch of fools." Rico responded. Ash and the others gasped, hearing this.

"Was that the explosion?" Ash asked. "Then it must have been the people who saved the Pokemon, right?" May asked, as she looked over at Ash with a smile as he was smiling at her in return.

"Yeah. With all the bad people like Team Rocket running around, it's nice to know that there are good people too." Ash said. "Good people like you, Ash, who will do anything to help Pokemon." May agreed. Ash was surprised by May's opinion, but he couldn't help smiling.

That evening, the Rocket Trio were walking, but they still had a lot of bruises after the harsh battle with Tyranitar. As they were on their way, Jessie and James sighed and then they looked up at the evening sky. "Do you really Arbok and Weezing will be all right, Jessie?" James asked.

"I hope so." Jessie responded. "Don't worry, guys." The two looked down at Meowth. "They're as tough as nails from all that battling with Pikachu, right. I know they'll be just fine." Meowth explained.

"I suppose." Jessie responded. "Yes, you're right." James agreed. Just then, Cacnea hopped over holding James's biscuit packet.

"Look who it is." Jessie commented. "It's that same Cacnea." Meowth noticed. James bent down to Cacnea and asked "Have you been following us all this time?" Cacnea then showed James his biscuit that it had been carrying with it.

"Hey, it's okay. I gave this to you. You should go ahead and eat it." James said, as he got a biscuit out of the packet and handed it to Cacnea. "It's really quite good." James said. Cacnea then munched on the biscuit and then its eyes went huge and it started jumping in excitement.

"Look!" Jessie smiled. "That Cacnea is kinda cute." Meowth commented.

"Cacnea, if you like, you can come along and travel with us. What do you say?" James asked. Cacnea smiled and jumped into James's arms.

"We got a Cacnea!" James smiled. Unfortunately, Cacnea's spikes were sticking into James's jumper, causing James to let out a loud scream.


End file.
